Harry Potter and the Obsidian Tome
by Kevin3
Summary: Harry Potter returns for his final year at Hogwarts. But Voldemort yet again seeks to destroy, and has a terrible new power...
1. Harry Potter and the Obsidian Tome

**Harry Potter and the Obsidian Tome**

First, this is the third story of a trilogy.  I would STRONGLY recommend you read the other two stories first.  If you don't, almost none of this story will make sense.  I just know that I'm going to get flames from people who start reading the story and say something like, "WHAT?  VOLDEMORT IS IN WHOSE BODY?"

Argh.

Story 1 (5th year) : Harry Potter and the Two Draughts

Story 2 (6th year) : Harry Potter and the Possessions of Voldemort

To get to these stories, click the 'Kevin' link at the top of the page.  You can find the stories under the 'Stories Written' tab.

Also, I am going to try to finish by 12/21.  No promises, though.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

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Harry lied down on his bed, back at 4 Privet Drive for hopefully the last summer ever.  It wasn't time to go to sleep, and he wasn't particularly tired, either.  He was just extremely bored.  The first thing he did when he got back is to create a chart of exactly how many days to September 1st, the day he'd be able to leave the Dursleys forever.

Harry finally decided he should start up the trading pact with Dudley.  In exchange for a mini-catapult to hurl water balloons, Harry held in his hand a borrowed copy of 'The Music of Glenn Miller' in his hands.

However, after he finished the first song and began playing along with the second, he heard a yell from downstairs.  "HARRY!" boomed Uncle Vernon's voice.  Harry sighed, put down his trumpet, and went downstairs to see what Vernon wanted.

"Harry, we are going to take Dudley to driving class.  You had better not blow the house up, or worse, otherwise you'll have regretted the day you were born!"

Harry went back into his room, sniggering.  Personally, he couldn't imagine a car that would accommodate Dudley, but his insistence on being able to drive at least got the Dursleys out of the house once in awhile.

Harry watched them leave from his window, and took off the Mutus spell on his room.  He didn't know why, but playing the trumpet with the muting spell on made it different somehow, as if it were less real.  However, Harry was interrupted again after a few songs by a soft tap on his window.

Harry turned around, expecting to see Hedwig back from delivering his letter from Ginny.  However, Hedwig was nowhere in sight.  Harry wondered what made the tapping sound, when it happened again.  Harry caught glimpse of something hitting the window.

Harry ran over and looked outside.  Two kids, about two to three years younger than him, were outside.  One was a short guy with short blond-brown hair, which strongly reminded Harry of someone, although he couldn't place who.  The other was a girl with curly hair the same color, standing a little shorter than the boy.  Harry opened the window, and was rewarded by a pebble hitting him in the forehead next to his scar.  "OW!" Harry yelped.

"Sorry about that," stammered the guy.

Harry rubbed his forehead and asked, "What are you two doing?"

The girl called out, "We heard you playing the trumpet – you're not too bad!  Can you come outside?"

Harry nodded excitedly.  He quickly put his trumpet away and ran outside.  _My first muggle friends!  Harry thought, __my first friends that don't know I'm a wizard, or that I'm famous.  Harry didn't know why he thought this an important distinction._

As soon as he shut the door, the girl loudly said, "Hi!  My name is Carol, and this is my brother Steven."

Harry smiled and said, "Hello, my name is Harry."

Steven asked, "How long have you been playing trumpet?"

"About a year," Harry replied.

Steven looked amazed at this and said, "You know, I used to play piano, but I gave it up ages ago.  And my brother played as well, but he was far better than me.  He had to give it up too when he went to school."

Carol shot Steven a nasty glare and Harry thought he heard her whisper, "Shut up!"

Harry was intrigued and asked, "Where does your brother go to school?"

At Harry's question, both Steven and Carol looked a little lost.  After several long seconds, Carol said, "Er, Allen University."

Harry grew puzzled.  He had never heard of Allen University, and Uncle Vernon had talked of almost nothing else this summer besides what prestigious higher education institute to send Dudley to.  Harry was about to ask where it was when Carol changed the subject, "Harry, Steven and I were going to play soccer over at the field with some friends.  Do you want to come?"

Harry nervously nodded.  While of course he wanted to go with them, Harry wondered what Vernon would do to him when he found that his nephew had left the house empty.

"Well, what experience do you have playing soccer?" Steven asked as they walked onto the field.

Harry admitted, "Er, I've never played before."

Carol said, "That's ok.  Tell you what, you stand there." She pointed at a net held up by a rectangular set of poles.  "Your job," she instructed, "is to make sure that the ball doesn't get into the goal."

Harry said, "Oh.  I'm the keeper!"

Steven looked at him oddly and said, "Er, yes."

As the game progressed, Harry was ready to tell Dean Thomas off when he got back to Hogwarts.  This game had absolutely nothing on Quidditch!  Carol and Steven were looking at Harry with what looked like pity.  Personally, he understood why, since he had only been able to block one shot, and their team was losing 2-17.

Harry watched with apprehension as two of the other team streaked towards him with the ball again.  _That's it!  I'm going to block this!  I'm going to block this!  Harry thought fiercely.  Harry watched in slow motion as the kick was made and he dived to reach it.  He growled in frustration as he watched the ball slowly pass by his outstretched arms, when something amazing happened.  The ball seemed to be deflected to the side, but he knew hadn't reached it.  __Uh oh, Harry though, __I hope nobody noticed that.  Maybe I should quit before I do any more accidental magic._

"HEY!" screamed the kicker, "He cheated!  I don't know how, but he cheated!"

Steven quickly came up beside Harry and said, "Don't be ridiculous, Mac!  If Harry were cheating, you wouldn't be winning by 15 goals!  Besides, how could he cheat?"

Mac didn't seem to give up and said loudly, "I don't know, but he somehow blocked the shot without touching it."

At these words, a lot of the players started laughing.  "I'm telling the truth!" screamed Mac.

"Maybe I should go," whispered Harry, while mentally chiding himself for momentarily losing control and almost giving himself away.

Steven nodded, and added, "I'll see you later, Mac.  Er, my sister and I have to get back."

Carol bounded up to the two of them and they left the field.

"Maybe we should get some ice cream?" suggested Carol.

Harry sadly said, "No, I didn't bring any money.  Besides, I have to get back anyway.  My uncle's going to kill me."

Harry said goodbye to Carol and Steven as he entered 4 Privet Drive.  He hesitantly opened the front door to find Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon staring at him from the couch.

"Where, boy, where you at?" yelled Vernon.

Harry quietly replied, "I was playing soccer with some friends I just met."  At this, Vernon and Petunia both erupted into laughter.

"Friends?" Vernon wheezed, "As if you could get a friend that was normal and not a freak like you!"  Harry stayed silent, knowing the matter was certainly not over.  After Vernon managed to stop laughing, his mood abruptly turned dark again and proceeded to lecture Harry.  15 minutes later, Harry sighed as Vernon ordered him up to his room.  Harry crossed off one more mark off his chart.  Only 72 left…

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Since it's a peeve of mine when people post a story that only has a very brief opening, I'm going to post a second chapter before I get any feedback.  If anyone minds, they can talk with Ariel :)

Review please!


	2. The Summer Duel

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

"BOY!  Get down here and fix my breakfast!"  Harry groaned, and got up to fix breakfast for his uncle.  Without a word, he pulled some fruit and orange juice from the refrigerator.  However, as he was slicing up the grapefruit, the doorbell rang.

"Boy!  Get the door!" Vernon called, and Harry dutifully went to the door.  He opened it, and his jaw fell; it was Steven and Carol!

Harry didn't know what to say, and Vernon yelled, "Well, why are you standing there?  Invite them inside, and go tell Dudley some friends of his are here!"

Harry let them in and Steven admitted, "Actually, we were here to see Harry."

Harry watched his uncle's mouth move wordlessly, clearly thinking them to be two wizards.  Carol continued, not noticing Vernon's odd state.  "Yeah, we met Harry yesterday, and we played some soccer."

Vernon still looked like he didn't know whether Harry's friends were wizards or not, but finally found his voice.  "You do know," he growled, "that Harry goes to the St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys?"

Carol laughed, but Steven edged away slightly from Harry.  Harry caught his uncle's eyes; they were glaring at him with obvious intent.  _He wants me to confirm his story, Harry thought sadly.  It took a minute, but Harry finally caved in and said, "Er, yeah.  I attacked a postman five years ago."_

Steven grew even more afraid of Harry and pulled his sister out of the Dursleys' house.  Harry's head fell, and Uncle Vernon hissed, "You see, boy?  No one will be a friend of yours, since you're such a freak!"

Harry went back into the kitchen and finished cutting the grapefruit up.

Later that week, Harry was still mad at himself.  He shouldn't have gone along with his uncle!  Harry angrily whipped out his trumpet and cast Mutus on the room.  Harry began practicing his scales, when he heard a tap on the window.

Harry looked out, and it was Carol again, although Steven wasn't there.  Harry waved and nodded to her.  He quietly slipped out of his door, and snuck down the stairs, avoiding the squeaking stair at the bottom.  When Dudley started loudly yelling at the television in the kitchen, Harry quickly opened the front door and snuck outside.

As he walked up to Carol, she asked, "You really didn't attack a postman, did you?"

Harry couldn't help but laugh, and said, "No, I never attacked a postman"

Carol looked at him, "I thought so.  You certainly didn't seem the type.  When Mac yelled at you, you simply left, instead of, well, hitting him or something.  Why do you go to that institution?  The one for incurably criminal boys?"

Harry quickly changed the subject and asked, "What's your brother's name?"

Carol looked at him somewhat nervously and said, "Steven."

Harry smiled, and said, "No, I meant your other brother."

Carol grimaced and finally grunted, "Terry."

Harry finally placed who Steven reminded him of – Terry Boot!  _So that's why they can't talk about him! Harry thought, __Because __he's a wizard!  And I didn't know Terry was a muggle-born!_

Still, Harry didn't want to say anything – he could still be wrong.  "I understand," Harry said casually, "you can't talk about him.  Anyway, I was just reading this story.  It was pretty good!  It was about this castle named Higwerts."

"Hogwarts," Carol corrected automatically.  Harry had to contain a smile as Carol went completely white.

"Carol, I have to go back inside.  Can I ask you a favor?" Harry asked.  When Carol nodded, he continued, "Can you tell Terry that 'Harry Potter is sorry for knocking him out last year'?"

"You want me to say what?" Carol asked, confused.

"I want you to tell him, 'Harry Potter is sorry for knocking him out last year.'  Ok?"  At Carol's questioning face, Harry added, "Trust me."

Carol waved goodbye, and Harry turned to go back inside before the Dursleys noticed he was gone.

"BOY!  Get down here and fix me my breakfast!"  Vernon's voice came from downstairs.  Harry smiled; this was starting to become a regular pattern at 4 Privet Drive.  Harry wondered what Vernon would think if he knew Harry regarded him as an annoying alarm clock.

As Harry finished pouring the juice and slicing the grapefruits, the doorbell rang again.

"Ah!  That's probably the package I'm expecting," Vernon said enthusiastically, "Well, boy, go get it!"  Harry sighed, and hoped the package wasn't too heavy.

However, it was Carol and Steven again, and Vernon noticed them as he came into the hall.  "What," he growled, "are you two doing back here?  Harry isn't safe, and you shouldn't be around him!"

At this, Steven grew very angry and yelled, "My brother goes to Hogwarts!"  Vernon went white, and Steven advanced on him.  "I told my brother about how you treat Harry, and my brother was very upset.  Do you know what stuff my brother is capable of?  DO YOU?"  Harry was amused that his large uncle was cowering before a 14 year old kid.

Harry though, felt a little sorry for his uncle.  "Stop," he said softly.

"But… he…" sputtered Steven, still angry.

"No, it's ok.  You don't need to bring Terry into this.  It's alright," Harry calmly said.  _After all, he though, __this is my last summer with the Dursleys._

Carol lightly said, "Harry, we wanted to know if you could come over."

Vernon looked like he was about ready to refuse, until he saw the glare Steven's face.  "Ok, boy.  You can go."  Harry smiled, and left the house with Steven and Carol.

However, Harry's smile disappeared as Steven and Carol got on bicycles that they had ridden to get to his house.  Although Dudley never used his racing bike he got six years ago, Harry knew he'd be in deep trouble if he rode it.  And he didn't want to hold up Steven and Carol by having to walk.

However, Harry quickly thought of something and hollered, "Hold on, I'll get my bike.  It's in the garage."  Harry, once inside the garage and safely out of view, pulled out his wand.  "Elicio!" he intoned, concentrating hard on the image of a bicycle.  It took a couple more tries, but Harry finally conjured a working vehicle.  Harry hadn't thought much about how a bicycle worked before, but marveled how the pedals turned a gear, which pulled a chain, that turned another gear attached to the rear wheel.  _I've got to show this to Mr. Weasley!  He'll love this!_

As Harry pedaled out of the driveway along with Carol and Steven, he noticed that his bicycle didn't appear to be working correctly, or at least how it was supposed to.  Pedaling didn't require hardly any energy.  Harry smiled in amusement_.  I must have made have unconsciously made it partially self-propelling!_

However, Steven and Carol's bikes were obviously not, as Harry noticed they seemed to look a bit tired.  Harry wasn't surprised, as the two had just got done pedaling to his house, and now they had to make the trip back, which appeared to be at least a couple of kilometers.  Harry watched them start to climb a large hill, and felt sorry as he heard Carol grunt.

Harry concentrated on the other two bikes, and was rewarded by yelps of surprise from Steven and Carol.  "What the?  What happened?" Carol exclaimed, now easily pedaling up the hill.  Steven looked back at Harry with a look of suspicion, and Harry grew a guilty smile.

"Does Terry practice his, er, craft at home?" Harry asked.  He had always wondered what normal magic families did during the summer.  He knew that the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry prevented them from going out and using magic wherever they wanted, but he knew that magic in certain conditions was allowed.

Carol answered his question with a curt, "Yes," and then added, "but we're not supposed to talk about it."

When the trio finally reached their destination, Terry was waiting for them at the door.  Harry discretely removed the enchantment from the other bicycles.  He didn't Mr. Weasley to have to deal with enchanted muggle objects because of him.

Terry invited held the door for them, and the four sat down in the living room.  "Mum and Dad had to go off for the day," Terry said, "Don't remember why, but they left a note on the kitchen table."

Carol absently said, "Ok."

Harry grinned sheepishly at Terry and said, "Listen, Terry, about last year in class, I'm sorry about stunning you like that."

Terry wouldn't hear of it, and brushed away his apology, "Don't worry about it.  You were doing that for the lesson, I understand."

Carol and Steven were looking at the pair with odd expressions and Harry suddenly realized that they had been talking about a Hogwarts class in front of muggles.

Terry seemed to realize Harry's problem and said, "Don't worry, we're allowed to talk about Hogwarts and Magic, as long as there aren't any muggles outside of the family that can hear.  Steven and Carol know all about Hogwarts.  In fact, they won't quit pestering me to tell them all sorts of stories about what happens there."

Harry started to ask, "But the Decree for the Restriction…"

"Have you read the actual decree?" Terry asked, and then explained, "The Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry isn't as strict as the Hogwarts professors lead you to believe.  Simply put, you're not allowed to do magic in front of any muggles that aren't in a wizarding family, which includes some muggles if you're muggle-born.  You're allowed to do magic at home as long as there are no guests, but it's really frowned on because there's the chance that a neighbor will notice, for instance."

Harry was about to point out about the two times he got in trouble with the law, but realized the first was when they were host to some company contacts for Grunnings, Vernon's drill company, and the other was when he blew up Aunt Marge, who technically wasn't family.

Carol piped up, "Harry, that's twice you've said something about knocking Terry out.  What happened?"

Steven and Carol immediately sat forward.  _So this is what Terry meant about them always requesting stories about what happens at Hogwarts.  "Well," he started, "we have a class called Defense Against the Dark Arts.  And we were training to combat this spell that makes you do stuff you don't want to – it's called the Imperius Curse."  Harry expected to have to explain something at this point, but clearly the pair knew a lot about what happened in the wizarding world._

"So anyway, the professor came up to me before class started.  I was the only one in the room with her, and she asked me to help out with the class.  I was supposed to only pretend to be under her control.  You see, I was playing the part of an evil wizard, who pretends to be good all along.  So a little bit into the class, I started stunning people, making them go to sleep.  Well, someone did the counter-curse, and I pretended like I got better.  It was just an act though – I was in control the whole time."

"Well, Terry," Harry continued, gesturing to his peer, "knew what happened, and that I was just faking it.  Everyone else was a little confused, but I could see he worked out exactly what had been going on.  So the next time I started stunning people, I made sure I got him first."

Terry laughed, and said, "I knew you weren't under the control of the spell.  I mean, you managed to throw it off your fourth year.  Why would you have problems last year?  Anyway, I really enjoyed those lectures.  It was so fun watching everyone twitch nervously after her class!"

Steven and Carol were looking at the two with expressions of awe.  Finally, Steven asked, "Can you two duel or something?"  Carol burst with joy, clearly imagining all the cool spells she was about to see.

Terry turned and whispered to Harry, "The only thing they enjoy more than the stories is making me do magic tricks for them."  He turned back to the pair and said, "I don't know.  I don't think that would be very fair, Me vs. Harry Potter."

Harry could see the disappointment in Carol and Steven's eyes, and said, "Come on, Terry.  I've been improving – I could stand a chance!"  He then shot a discrete wink at Terry.

Terry looked confused, but sighed and said, "Ok.  Close the drapes."  Steven and Carol were giddy with excitement.  Terry slowly got up to face Harry in dueling position.

Harry, instead of the traditional dueling position, got into a dramatic pose.  Although it looked intimidating, it really didn't help out in dueling.  Terry gave him a quizzical look, then fired off "_Stupefy."_

Harry easily blocked the bland brown beam, and cast "_Hilarulum," back at Terry.  After looking a bit oddly at Harry's spell choice – a cheering charm – Terry blocked the bright orange beam.  The two traded spells back and forth.  Terry would cast solid hexes and curses, and Harry would shoot back ridiculous curses that had bright colored beams.  Finally, when Harry yelled, "__Capillusi__ Rego", which would merely make the other person's hair stand on end, Terry understood what Harry was doing._

With a large smile, Terry blocked the spell and yelled back, "_Cutis Depingo".  Harry realized that Terry had caught on.  Instead of a real dueling spell, Terry had cast a spell that would change a person's skin color.  Harry decided to 'miss' the block, and was rewarded by his skin turning a deep green-blue._

Harry grinned as well, and tossed back another spell.  A little bit later, Terry let one of Harry's spells through, which made water sprout from his head.  Terry finally ended the duel by casting "_Expelliarmus__!" at Harry.  Harry decided that was enough, and didn't block it.  When the spell hit, Harry threw himself backward dramatically, putting on a show for Terry's siblings._

Terry loudly laughed and handed Harry his wand back.  "You have improved!" Terry said, while trying and failing to keep a straight face.

Harry chuckled, and reversed the hex on Terry's head and his skin.  Carol and Steven burst into applause, and Carol exclaimed, "Wow!  You were great, Terry!"

Steven said, "Yeah!  And, er, you were pretty good, too, Harry."

Harry laughed again and said, "You know, I might have to come back here again!  The Dursleys absolutely hate magic and refuse to let me do any, or even mention it at the house."  At this, Harry realized that Vernon was likely to kill him as soon as he returned home.  No doubt that Vernon was angry about being threatened by a 14 year old kid!

Harry quickly said, "Shoot!  I'm sorry, but I think I should get back now.  I promise I'll come back as soon as I can, though!"

Terry said goodbye, but as Harry left the door, he could see very odd looks on Carol and Steven's faces, and wondered what the pair were thinking.

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Sorry about the inconsistent chapter length (already), but there was no good place to break in this one, so it ended up twice as long as the first.

Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!


	3. Fake Attacks and Misguided Abductions

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

Harry was lying on his bed, thinking about the fun he had over at the Boot residence.  _Why couldn't I have grown up like that?  Harry wondered, __Somewhere__ where I wasn't treated like vermin?_

Harry sighed, and went back to reading 'Standard Book of Spells (Grade 7)'.  As he had just started a new chapter, Harry heard a yelp of alarm from Petunia.  _It's probably nothing, Harry thought.  But suddenly, Petunia let out a full bodied scream and Vernon shouted in alarm.  __What the? Harry thought._

To be on the safe side, Harry drew his wand and crept out of his room, careful not to make a sound.  He almost failed on the latter, as he noticed the state of the Dursleys down below.  Dudley looked completely normal, except he was on all fours making large piggish grunts.  Aunt Petunia had sprouted an extra arm at the top of her head.  And Uncle Vernon had goat legs and a beak!

Harry's gaze flew past the unfortunate Dursleys and saw three black robed figures on the far side of the room.  Harry was about ready to stun them, when he noticed something odd.  Two of them weren't even holding wands!  One was holding what appeared to be a baton, and the other was just wriggling their fingers like the muggle depiction of a witch.  Harry smiled, as he saw the third figure had what looked like Terry's sneakers.  Harry silently laughed – it was Steven, Carol, and Terry!

Harry lowered his wand – he certainly was going to enjoy watching the Dursleys' comeuppance!  Harry had to control himself when Terry made Petunia switch language.  Suddenly, Aunt Petunia was throwing around nasty adjectives in fluent French.  _Maybe I should invite Fleur next time this happens!  Harry thought._

However, Harry decided the Dursleys had enough when Terry cast Tarantallegra on Uncle Vernon, causing him to dance like crazy all around the room.  Screwing on a straight face, Harry called, "What are you three doing!"  Harry cast some fake spells at the 'intruders'.  Terry got the point and yelled, "Retreat!" and the Boots left the house.

Harry undid the curses on his relatives, although not nearly as quickly as he was capable of.  He rather enjoyed seeing Uncle Vernon in goat legs.  After finishing, Harry walked back up to his room without a word.  The Dursleys were clearly speechless, and didn't say a word either.

One unfortunate side effect of the Boots' escapade was that Vernon refused to let Harry out of the house.  Harry didn't know whether this was an unprecedented show of concern for Harry's welfare, or the usual show of selfishness by making Harry stay to protect them in case any other black robed wizards showed up.

Two days after the incident, Harry grew alarmed as the fireplace suddenly roared up, and a robed figure burst from the flames.  Before Harry could do anything, the figure grabbed Harry and ran back to the fireplace.

"Umph!" Harry yelled through the attacker's hand.

"Harry, quiet!  I'm here to rescue you!" Harry recognized the voice as belonging to Arnold Weasley.  Within seconds, Mr. Weasley grabbed a bit of Floo Powder, and the two quickly found themselves at the Weasley residence.

Mrs. Weasley ran up to him and hugged him, sobbing, "Oh, Harry dear!  We were so worried about you!  Attacked in your own home, no less!"

Harry was confused, but then had to hide his smile as he realized what she was referring to.  Mrs. Weasley continued, "You can imagine our horror when your owl shows up with this note."

_HELP!_

_This is Vernon Dursley, and there's been an attack inside my house by wizards in black robes.  Harry managed to drive them back, but I'm sure they'll return.  Please help!_

_- Vernon Dursley_

It took all of Harry's effort to avoid smiling or breaking out into laughter.  "Thank you!" Harry managed, "I, er, well, I'd rather not talk about it." Harry stammered.

Ginny seemed to be worried about him, and put her arm around him.  "Come on," she said softly, "it will be alright."  She then led him to her room, which he had never actually been in before.

Harry was surprised by the room.  He had honestly expected, well, the stereotypical girl's room.  Instead, a lot of posters on the wall were of Quidditch.  There were several magical artifacts lying around the room, and Harry spotted a pair of omniculars and a sneakoscope.

Ginny smiled and shut the door.  Harry gasped.  Filling the entire back half of the door was a poster of him.  Or rather, his effigy from two years ago.  Harry looked at the burning fireball and pumped up upper body, and shook his head.

"I told you I had another copy of that photo," Ginny whispered conspiratorially.  Despite her banter, Harry could see she was worried.

"You're worried about the attack," Harry said.  Ginny nodded, and Harry started, "Well, I found out that Terry Boot lived in the same town as me.  So anyway, his brother and sister found out that the Dursleys don't treat me very well in the summer.  They decided to get Terry to play a joke on them.  All three dressed up in black robes, and began cursing Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley."

Ginny looked torn between amusement and disgust, "That's not very nice, hurting the Dursleys like that."

Harry quickly said, "No, they weren't bad – they were more like prank spells.  For instance, he transfigured my uncle to have goat legs, a beak, and made him dance across the room.  None of them were actually hurt.  So I pretended to drive the 'attackers' away, and then reversed the spells on the Dursleys.  Well, apparently, Vernon panicked, and used Hedwig to send a message out.  I guess I should consider myself lucky that Hedwig didn't fly to Dumbledore instead.

Ginny looked at Harry, and finally burst out laughing.  "Oh, you should have seen mum!" she chortled, "when she found out you were attacked!  You were lucky she wasn't there, or Terry Boot would be coming back to Hogwarts in a box!"

Harry laughed as well, and Ginny asked, "How did you find out that Terry lived in your town?" while scooting close to him.

Harry put his arm around her and said, "Well, I was playing the trumpet, when his younger brother and sister heard.  It turns out that Terry is muggle-born."

"Oh, how is the trumpet coming along?" Ginny asked.

Harry laughed and said, "Ok, I guess.  I really haven't spent too much time on it.  I mainly do it when there's nothing else to do."   Harry suddenly realized that Fred and George weren't downstairs with the rest of the family, "Ginny, what are Fred and George up to?"

Ginny chuckled and said, "Despite mum's attempts, they finally opened up shop for the Wizard Weasley Wheezes out at Hogsmeade.  It turns out they developed a massive list of products.  I don't know how they came up with all the galleons to afford the raw materials and store, though."

Harry grinned sheepishly and said, "Er, that would be my doing."

Ginny looked at him and said, "What?"

Harry admitted, "You remember the Tri-Wizard tournament my fourth year?  Well, I gave the twins the 1000 Galleon prize.  I told them I wanted it to be used for them to open their joke shop."

Ginny laughed and gave Harry a kiss; neither seemed willing to break away.  After several minutes, Harry finally came up for air and said, "I think I better sleep in Ron's room.  I wouldn't want your parents to worry."

Ginny looked disappointed.  Harry gave her a smile and ran his hand through her hair.  "It's ok, Ginny.  I'm going to be here the rest of the summer."

Ginny gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, stood up and opened the door for him.  Harry gave her one last smile and headed up to Ron's room.

Harry fell asleep, with the memory of Ginny's kiss happily on his mind.  However, he soon found himself in a dark field.  He was surrounded by a large number of cloaked figures, and the darkly cloaked form of Padma.  For one brief moment, Harry panicked, thinking that the death eaters had got him somehow.  But he slowly realized that it was a dream.

"What?" screamed Padma at one of the Death Eaters, and then yelled, "_Crucio__!"  Harry briefly thought, __Well__!  That's got to be the quickest scar dream yet, while bracing himself for the pain.  However, the pain seemed to be muted somehow, and Harry looked back up at the scene before him.  The Death Eater didn't appear to be in much pain either, and was merely biting his lip._

Suddenly, Harry's attention was drawn to one of the death eaters, who was looking back and forth between Padma and her Cruciatus victim.  After a moment, the death eater slowly pulled off his mask to reveal Lucius Malfoy's face.

Padma let down the Cruciatus curse and hissed, "I said I don't want any muggle killings, at least not yet!  The ministry has not yet admitted I have returned, and I certainly don't wish to hasten their decision!"

Lucius boldly stepped forward and said, "Why?  Are you afraid of the ministry?  Are you afraid of Fudge?"

Harry gasped, never imagining that Lucius would dare talk down to Voldemort, or even Voldemort in another body.

"CRUCIO!" Padma yelled.

Lucius blocked the spell, and yelled, "Maybe you are afraid of Fudge.  After all, even a spineless weakling like him is probably a stronger wizard than you!"

Padma drew herself up, and assumed the standard dueling position.  Lucius did the same, although his movements were flamboyant and mocking.  Harry gasped as Lucius dueled Padma.  Padma gave it her complete effort, but Lucius seemed to go out of his way to humiliate her.  Instead of crisp enunciated words, he used a slow drawl, as though playing down to her level.  And instead of direct spells, he used minor incapacitating spells.  Harry grew amazed as Padma was first disoriented, then frozen from the knees down, and finally disarmed with a low powered expelliarmus

"Well, well, it appears the great Voldemort isn't quite so great anymore," Lucius drawled.

Padma hissed, "Do you think I'll be weak forever?  After all, I am immortal!" and disapparated.

Harry grew disoriented as his view immediately shifted to another hilly terrain.  A few minutes later, several Death Eaters apparated in as well, although Harry could tell it was a mere fraction of the ones who remained with Lucius.

Harry had the definite impression that Voldemort wanted to punish them for their obvious reluctance, but didn't.  He watched as Padma quaked in silent, impotent fury, while the Death Eaters were looking at her with what appeared to be pity.

Harry suddenly woke up.  He wasn't screaming, and only had mild twinges from his scar, but he knew that the dream had to be real.  "I'll owl Dumbledore in the morning," Harry resolved, and tried to go back to sleep.  And failed.

----

I've started the action up a little earlier in this story …

Garina, Fire Mistress – I'm glad you like the story so far!

Jocelyn – I understand what you mean about Snape's anger fizzling.  Well, it really didn't fizzle out, I just portrayed it badly.  Keep in mind, when Ron found out about Potions being 2 ½ hours long last story, he shrieked like a little girl.  Ron, Neville, and most of the Gyrffindors shuddered at this.  Snape still is nasty – he's just not nasty to Harry.  It's my fault for not putting in a potions class scene that set everything straight.  Well, if I ever re-write, I've got something else to change…

Also, you're right about the Harry/Ginny thing.  I'm going to bring them even closer together, for a couple of different reasons which I can't tell you (I don't want to ruin the ending…)

**Anyone, please review!**


	4. Three Player Chess

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

"Harry, get up!" Ron groaned, tugging on Harry's pajama sleeve.  "Ugh!  And I thought I could sleep late – c'mon, it's well after noon!"

Harry barely heard his words.  He was still tired, having not been able to get back to sleep after his nightmare.  Although he didn't wake up with the scar burning, any dream of Voldemort was bound to disturb.  And it didn't help any that there appeared to be two group of death eaters around now.

Ron finally decided to take a leaf from Angelina's book, and conjured a bucket of ice water.  "WAKE UP!" Ron yelled, while pouring the bucket over on Harry.

"Agh!" Harry cried, jumping out of bed.

"Harry, it's 2:30 already!  Why are you so tired?" Ron asked.

Harry looked at him with bags under his eyes, and Ron whispered, "You had a nightmare, didn't you."

Harry silently nodded, and grabbed a piece of parchment.  "Well," Ron nervously asked, "what was it?  Did Voldemort kill someone?"

Harry frowned and said, "Can I tell you later?  Something really weird has happened,"

Ron looked at him with a hurt expression, and Harry softly said, "Ron, I will tell you.  It's just, well, you know how those dreams can be."

Ron put his hand on Harry's shoulder, and then left the room.  Harry wondered how he had managed to find a friend like Ron, and started writing his note.

_Dumbledore,_

_I had a dream last night, and something odd happened with the Death Eaters.  Padma, or Voldemort, was weak and couldn't perform the cruciatus curse at full power.  Then Lucius Malfoy saw this, and decided to stage a coup.  Malfoy dueled Voldemort and won.  Voldemort left, and only about seven or eight of the death eaters followed.  The rest I assume stayed with Malfoy._

_I'll let you know if I get another dream.  How is Snuffles doing?_

_- Harry_

Harry rolled the parchment up and tied it to Hedwig's leg.  "I need you to get this to Dumbledore.  It's important, ok?"  Hedwig gently nipped his finger, and took off out the window.

"Are you ok, Harry?"

Harry turned around, and saw Ginny standing in the doorway.  Harry softly said, "No."

"Ron told me that you had a nightmare again," Ginny said, slowly walking over to him, "But he said you didn't want to talk about it."

Harry sat silent for a moment, not saying anything.  As Ginny was about to leave, Harry asked, "Do you play chess?"

Ginny turned around and said, "Yes, it's impossible to live with Ron and not to.  Why, do you want to play?"

Harry shook his head and said, "Chess is two forces, battling it out to see who wins.  It's really easy to understand – you just play to defeat the other side."

Ginny stared at him, wondering what he was talking about.  Harry continued talking, "But what if there were two opponents?  What if there were two enemies?  How would you fight them both?"

Ginny ran over to him and hugged him.  She seemed like she wanted to say something to him, but couldn't find the words.  Harry didn't know what to say either, and the two sat in silence.

Dumbledore's reply came several days later, and Harry read it anxiously on the couch in the Burrow living room.  He had been worrying about what the schism of the death eaters could mean.

_Harry,_

_Thank you for your letter, and for your news about what is going on with the death eaters.  However, this was somewhat expected, and I ask you not to worry about it.  Voldemort was a powerful wizard, but now he's held within the body of a relatively weak 17 year old.  Voldemort will have to take some time to regain his powers._

_Understand that Death Eaters rarely claim loyalty to an ideal, or even a person.  Instead, most feel only kinship to power.  I don't doubt that for a time, Lucius Malfoy will lead the majority of the Death Eaters, since he is for the time being more powerful._

_No doubt you are slightly alarmed that there are now two separate groups of death eaters.  However, keep in mind that this does not necessarily create a worse situation for us, and may in fact benefit us.  Please keep up hope._

_Snuffles sends__ you his regards as well, and regrets that he won't be able to attend your birthday._

_- Albus Dumbledore_

Harry let out a sigh, and wondered how the situation could be better for them.  _If you had to play chess against two opponents, what would you do?  How would you fight them both?  How could the situation be an improvement?  What did Dumbledore see that he didn't?_

Harry let out a quavering breath, and cleared his mind.  _How could two opponents be better than one?  How could two forces seeking to destroy you be better than one?  Harry suddenly looked up.  That's it!  Harry was too busy worried about there being two enemies, he forgot that the two hated each other as well!  Voldemort would want to make Malfoy pay, and Lucius will want to remove any threats to his new power!  So the big question was, would Lucius pose a greater threat to Voldemort or to the rest of the magical world?_

"Dumbledore wrote you back?" Ron asked.  Harry suddenly noticed his friend had sat down on the floor in front of him.

Harry nodded, and Ron softly asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Harry let out a weak grin, and said, "Sure, but let's get Ginny down here, too.  That way I'll only have to tell the story once."

Ron smiled and went to knock on Ginny's door.  Ron silently gestured for her to come down, and Ginny sat down next to Harry on the couch.

"Well, you know how I sometimes have dreams about what Voldemort is doing?  Well, I had another one about a week ago," Harry started.  Both Ron and Ginny simply nodded, already knowing that much.

"However, the dream was rather odd.  Voldemort was in Padma's body, but he was really weak.  He tried casting the cruciatus curse on one of the Death Eaters, but it didn't have much power.  Well, Lucius Malfoy saw this and had this crafty look on his face.  And he started to snidely talk back to Voldemort."

Ginny and Ron gasped.  Harry didn't blame them, as he was rather surprised when he witnessed it.  Harry continued, "Voldemort tried hurting Malfoy, but failed.  They both dueled, and Malfoy humiliated Voldemort.  Voldemort was forced to leave, and only a handful followed him.  So there are two groups of death eaters now.  One large group led by Malfoy, and a much smaller group led by Voldemort."

Ron and Ginny couldn't think of anything to say.  Finally, Ron burst out, "That's great!  The death eaters will fight against each other!  This is… This is…"

Ginny shot him a look and said, "What if the death eaters don't attack each other, and decide to kill off muggles or good wizards instead?  We could be facing an even larger problem!"

Ron frowned and shot back, "Well, well, if you're not a bit of sunlight on a gloomy day!"

"No, she's right, Ron," Harry finally said, "And so are you.  We just don't know whether the situation will be better or worse for us."  Harry handed the two Weasleys the note from Dumbledore.

"Oh, that's good," Ginny said, "Snuffles is doing ok.  Oh, and I almost forgot about your birthday.  When is it, July 29th?"

Harry corrected, "No, it's the 31st."

Ron burst out laughing and said, "Oh, you forgot, did you Ginny?  I would've thought that would be hard, what with all the planning you've done for it."  Ginny shot her brother a pleading look, which Ron ignored and continued, "She's even driving mum mad, trying to make sure the entire thing is completely perfect."

"Hi, Hermione!" Ginny said, looking over Ron's shoulder.

"What?" Ron cried, whipping around and seeing nobody.  Ginny and Harry burst out laughing, and Ron said, "That isn't funny!"  That only made the two laugh harder.

Ron threw his arms up in the air and stormed up to his room.  "So, you've been planning my birthday party, have you?" Harry asked as Ron shut his door.

Ginny didn't answer him, and just gave him a small grin.  "You know," Harry whispered, "I haven't really had a birthday party before.  You didn't need to do much planning to be the best one I've ever had."

Ginny snuggled up close and said, "No, Harry.  That's why it has to be so good.  I can't imagine not having a birthday party before.  Why are you so unlucky?"

Harry looked at Ginny in his arms and softly said, "I don't think I'd call myself unlucky."

----

Hehe, let's here it for cheesy lines!

First off, I had an anonymous review that somehow didn't make it to the reviews page (I assume the poster deleted it somehow).  It brought up a very good point about magic during the holidays.  I admit I might have stretched the canon with how I created this story.  But it's not that far-fetched.  After all, Ron tells Harry that there are exceptions to the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry.  I merely… bent it a little.  Anyway, good point brought up.

TrueFan, I'm glad you love the Irish Drinking songs.  You know, I when the idea popped up in my head for a singing leprechaun back in story one, I never imagined all this would happen!  If you want, check out the reviews in the second story, which Atheis & Aeris write some of them, too!

Suzanne: I'm glad you enjoyed the Boot's fun with the Dursleys as well

Penda: Nope.  I'm not going to tell you what happened between Ginny and Harry in the 7th year's room last year.  In fact, I purposely made it so that you could take whatever stance you wanted.  Sorry!

Also, about Dumbledore Vs. Hannah.  Dumbledore was asleep when Hannah started attacking.  Dumbledore had to wake up, and once he had done so, drove Hannah away.

Kaelli: Glad you like it!

Ariel: To tell you the truth, I was worried some people might see the first two chapters and think I was going to introduce a Larry and Mary Sue.  Oh well – glad you like it!


	5. Flying with the Cannons

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

The following weeks were some of the best of Harry's life; it was certainly the most enjoyable summer ever.  Time rushed forward, and before Harry knew it, it was the end of July.

Harry had just finished a quiet walk with Ginny when he realized that it was his birthday.  Yet despite the notice from Ron, everything seemed to be going normally.  However, when the pair entered the Burrow, they were immediately assaulted by countless cries of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Harry looked around and saw the entire Weasley family, Hermione, and a large group of people Harry didn't recognize.  Although Hermione was obviously glad to see him, it seemed to Harry that she was even more glad to see Ron.  Ron for his part looked completely ecstatic about the new group of people, although Harry didn't know why.

Ginny stood in front of everyone and faced Harry.  "Harry, we've got a big surprise for you.  Do you recognize any of these people?" Harry looked at the group she was pointing to; they looked very familiar, but Harry couldn't place them.

Harry couldn't come up with where he had seen them, but was saved by Ron bursting out with joy, "It's the Chudley Cannons!"  Harry broke out into a smile.

Charlie Weasley came forward, "We decided that it's been too long since you've played Quidditch, and the Chudley Cannons jumped at the chance to play with you."  Harry suddenly realized where he had seen the group before – they were plastered all over Ron and Ginny's walls!  "This is Doug MacLean, the primary team's seeker," Charlie continued, "and these two are Jason Waller and Jerome Bell, the primary beaters.  Robert Norton, Bing Evans, and Graham Morris are the primary chasers, and Jennifer Berger is the keeper – the only female keeper in the league."  As Charlie finished, Jennifer blushed, although it seemed to Harry that it was theatrical.  She had a glint in her eye that he recognized well from Oliver Wood.

Charlie turned to his right and introduced the secondary team, although in an abbreviated format.  Harry hoped the secondary team wasn't offended as Charlie said, "Ray and Ronald; beaters.  Vernon, Chris, and Jeff; chasers.  Jean, seaker.  And Sam, keeper."

Harry shook hands with everyone, and laughed as Ron did as well.  Although it was his birthday, Harry knew Ron was enjoying this just as much as he was.  After heading outside, Doug MacLean drew up quick teams.  Several of the Cannons stayed down to watch, as Charlie, Harry, Ginny, and Ron took to the sky.

Harry was briefly worried that the game would turn into a deep competition, but it seemed the Chudley Cannons realized it was just a leisure game.  Every few minutes, one would dive to the ground, and one of their counterparts would take their place.  Harry had to try hard to remember which team was his, since twenty minutes later none of his original team were on his side, and a few were even playing on the opposite team.  He supposed this made it even easier to play a leisure game, since half an hour later, you were likely to be playing on the opposite side!

Harry, Charlie, Doug MacLean, and Jean Nesteroff took turns being seeker, although the chasers weren't too concerned with the score, since the snitch had been caught five times already and the game was still going.  Harry noticed that Doug and Jean were never in the air at the same time, and when they played against him, they didn't seem to be trying very hard.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked Doug, as they both circled high above everyone else, "Why aren't you trying to find the snitch?"

"I am too trying to catch the snitch!" Doug called back, but Harry could hear the slight quiver in his voice.

"Whenever we both go after the snitch, you hang back a little and watch me.  It's almost like…" Harry stopped on his broomstick, and asked, "You're not scouting me, are you?"

Doug didn't know what to say, and eventually gave Harry a guilty smile.  "So that's why!" Harry said, "I wondered why you and Jean were never in the air at the same time."  Harry looked down at Jean, who was watching Harry like a hawk.  Doug noticed his attention, and started to laugh.

"Well, I thought this was a friendly game.  I guess I'll have to try now," Harry said jokingly.  Harry suddenly noticed the snitch below him by about ten meters, and decided to try something he had never done before.

Doug gasped as Harry intently slid off his broomstick and plummeted to the earth.  Harry pointed his wand behind him and shouted "Accio Firebolt!" all while keeping his eye on the snitch he was rapidly falling to.

As Harry approached, the snitch seemed to notice him and darted to the side.  Harry's hand shot out and grabbed it.  Harry looked over his shoulder, and saw his Firebolt had almost reached him.  Harry stretched the hands out and grabbed it; he was holding onto the broomstick now upside down, while simultaneously holding the snitch and wand as well.

Harry grunted and pulled his broom out of the dive, and felt blades of grass brush against the backside of his robes.  He quickly pulled up, still on the underside of the broomstick, and righted himself; Harry looked up to see Doug's face shaking incredulously.  

"Wow, Harry!" Ron called out, "But I think Hermione taught you that one."  Harry and Ron laughed, remembering Hermione's brilliant capture of the Triwizard Cup the year before, and Harry landed to be replaced by Charlie Weasley.

Harry decided to take it easy, and conjured a lawnchair for himself.  He stretched out, and watched the game above.  Ron was certainly enjoying himself.  When he wasn't trying out moves with the cannon chasers, he was talking with Robert Norton about the game.  Harry sniggered as he saw that Bing Evans was doing the same thing as Doug and Jean were.  Ron, however, didn't seem to noticed that he was being watched as a potential prospect for the team.  Harry knew that it would make Ron's day, as Ron had loved the Chudley Cannons and Quidditch in general for as long as Harry had known him.

Ginny walked up, and conjured her own chair beside him.  "So," she asked, "do you like your party?"

Harry smiled, and said, "It's wonderful, Ginny!  The best part is, I know what we can do for Ron on his birthday."

Ginny looked up at Ron, who was obviously enjoying himself.  "I don't know," Ginny said softly, "The Chudley Cannons came up partly to watch you play.  I mean, Ron's great, but I don't know if they'd come up to watch him."

Harry smiled again and said, "Oh yeah?  Look at Bing up there."  Harry pointed to the Cannon chaser, who wasn't even flying around and watching Ron intently.  Harry laughed as he pulled out a little notebook when Ron made a spectacular pass to one of his teammates.

Ginny noticed this too, and laughed, "Ron can be somewhat clueless at times." Ron indeed was completely unaware of what was going on, and Bing discretely put his notebook back within his robes.

"So what are you going to do after this year?" Ginny asked.

Harry realized he didn't have an answer to the question.  "I don't know," he admitted, "To tell you the truth, I hadn't given it much thought.  I do know that I want to stay in England, at least for a year."

Ginny smiled, but asked, "Oh, really!  Why is that?"

Harry shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Well, there's this girl I really like at Hogwarts.  But she's a year younger than me, and I'm worried that all those Hogwarts boys will be tempted."

Ginny pretended to be hurt and said, "Maybe you should trust the girl.  I'm sure she'll be fine."

"Oh, I don't know," Harry coyly shot back, "After all, the guys at Durmstrang were upset she weren't available for a dance.  Especially Lukas."

Ginny blushed and stammered, "But… How… I'm going to kill Hermione!"

Harry laughed; Hermione had indeed told him about how Ginny had been asked to dance by a guy named Lukas last year.  "Anyway, I have to thank you, Ginny.  This was wonderful!"

"Was?" Ginny said with a large smile, "You seem to believe the night is over, Mr. Potter."

Harry grinned and asked, "Oh, so you have something else planned, now?"  Ginny didn't answer him, but gave him a roguish smile.

The last 4 weeks at the Burrow passed, and Harry was glad that his last summer was an enjoyable one.  Before he knew it, he was at Diagon Alley buying his supplies.

"Come on, Harry, you know you want to!" cried Hermione's voice.

"NO!  Harry, don't do it!" Ron shot back, almost afraid.  Harry laughed.  Ever since he told Hermione, Ginny, and Ron about his honorary O.W.L.s, Hermione had been trying to get Harry to enter Arithmancy.  Ron had done the exact opposite, and warned him about the horrible prospects, going so far as to say he might end up Head Boy if he wasn't careful.  Ginny didn't take sides, and merely laughed at the two every time they brought it up.

"Harry, you received full marks on the Arithmancy section of the O.W.L.s.  I'm sure you could do well in the class!" Hermione pleaded.

Ron gave a cough that sounded like "Head-Boy!"

Hermione said, "I don't know about that. I mean, Harry's basically broken every rule the school has had.  And I'm sure they've already filled to spot as well."

Ron retorted, "Oh yeah?  Well, they named you Head Girl, and you've broken about every rule, too!"

Hermione harrumphed, and said, "Me?  I don't break rules!"

Ron laughed, and said, "Oh, yeah?  What about the time you entered the 3rd floor corridor in your first year?"

Harry added, "Don't forget about the Polyjuice potion!"

"What about the third year when she attacked Snape?" Ron asked.

Ginny involuntarily asked, "Hermione attacked Professor Snape?"

Harry smiled and said, "Yeah.  But that was while she was aiding an international fugitive."

Ron loudly sighed, "I'm dating a bad girl!"  Hermione hit him, and Harry and Ginny laughed.

"Ok!" admitted Hermione, "I've broken a few rules!"

 "I suppose she broke all sorts of rules while she was up at Durmstrang, too," Harry commented.

"Did not!" Hermione hissed.

"Oh, loads," Ron said casually.  "You know, I'm beginning to wonder whether Hermione's the best choice for the Head Girl."

Hermione shot Ron a nasty look, and Ron quickly said, "I'm kidding!  Kidding!"

Ginny laughed and said, "Ignore those two, Harry.  Are you going to sign up for Arithmancy?"  Ron and Hermione became quiet, obviously interested what Harry would say.

"Well," Harry slowly said, "Last year I learned a lot while I was guarding Vector's class.  I actually liked the subject – it was a lot like mathematics class back in the muggle schools.  Plus, I did better on the Arithmancy part of the O.W.L.s than I did in the divination section.  So I guess I'll try it out."

Hermione smiled and pulled out a book from behind her back.  "Numerology, Arithmancy, and You," she said, "Your Arithmancy text – I already got it for you."

Harry laughed, and the four made their way to the Apothecary.  After refilling their potions supplies and grabbing some ice cream, the four gathered their gear and exited through the Leaky Cauldron.  Harry looked outside the taxi as the four traveled to King's Cross and thought, _I've only got one more year left.  What am I going to do?  Do I want to play Quidditch?  What about becoming an Auror?  Or becoming a ministry official wouldn't be bad, as long as it wasn't a stuffy job like Crouch or Percy had._

Harry's mind turned over the possibilities, but before he could come to any conclusions, he was already being pulled out of the cab by Ginny.

----

Sorry to cut this chapter at a slightly odd place.  But next chapter includes the sorting, which promises to be long by itself.

Seifer: Don't worry about it!  Jeez, you apologize for missing a chapter.  I'd be more worried about the people out there reading it that aren't reviewing…

Ariel: I'm glad you love cheesy lines.  Hopefully, though, I can avoid making any more.  I really don't want this to turn into a Bond flick.

Garina: Sorry to disappoint, but I don't know if I'm going to put an Irish Drinking song in.  Tell you what, if any of you out there have a preference, give me a review about it.  If a lot of people want one, I'll think about putting one in.

**Anyway, Review please!**


	6. Higher Standards

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

It seemed that every year the trip to Hogwarts took less time.  Harry swore that 15 minutes after the train started, it had pulled into Hogwarts, and they were going to the Great Hall.

"Are you ok, Harry?" Ginny asked, seeing the odd expression on Harry's face.

"Erm, yeah," Harry replied, "Well, I don't know.  The last several hours have just flown by."

Ginny laughed and said, "You know what they say?  Five minutes on a stove, five minutes with a beautiful lady…"  Harry laughed too, and they both sat down by the Gryffindor table.

"Rule one," Hermione said earnestly, "No arguing about who said what during the sorting last year."

Harry and Ginny sniggered, and Ron said, "What?  Why?"

Hermione said, "We did that the last two years.  And since I'm Head Girl, I have to set an example for the rest of the house."

Ron loudly coughed, "Percy."

Harry and Ginny sniggered again.  Hermione frowned and said, "I am not Percy!  I just think we have a higher standard to uphold."

McGonagall entered the hall, followed by yet another group of first years.  Harry leaned forward, anxious to hear this year's Sorting Song – which would be his last one.

Ages and ages ago

Wizards and witches took place

In a magical community

Which muggles sought to erase

How could sorcerers learn

In an environment filled with fear?

So four wise wizards built

This castle you see here

When each student would arrive

The four builders they would meet

They'd do their best to divide them up

Which is not an easy feat

When it comes to thinking

Ravenclaw's best for you

When the need of wisdom arises

Ravenclaws take their cue

Or perhaps you're very brave

Gryffindor would be the best

In the search for mettle and nerves

Gryffindors complete their quest

Maybe you value loyalty

Hufflepuff would be ideal

If you're looking for friendship

Then Hufflepuff has appeal

For those with much ambition

Slytherin would suit you fine

If a situation requires cunning

A Slytherin is sure to shine

Yet the four are now gone

And you're all left with me

So how do you get me to tell

Where you ought to be?

It's quite easy!  Put me on!

Not a straining test

This sorting hat will tell you

Which house you'd fit the best.

The hat grew still and the hall burst with applause.  McGonagall stood and said, "First years, when I call your name, please step forward and put the Sorting Hat upon your head."

Harry and Ron sniggered.  Harry could almost hear Ron thinking, "_She didn't say that last year…"_

"Albert, Jon" McGonagall called.

Harry and Ron couldn't stop sniggering, and Hermione hissed, "Higher Standard!"

While the hat decided Jon as a Hufflepuff, Ron whispered, "Rule breaker!"

Hermione became indignant; Ron, Harry, and Ginny burst into giggles.

"I haven't broken more than a handful of rules!" Hermione hissed; "Barker, Ryan" called McGonagall.

"That sounds like a challenge," Harry whispered as Ryan was announced as a Slytherin.

"Yeah, you're on, Hermione!" Ron added, while Janessa Conley was called to the front.

"Ok, we've got the Polyjuice formula," listed Ron as Janessa made her way to the Ravenclaws.

"Oh, don't forget she had to steal ingredients to make it, too!" Harry sniggered; "Alexis Freeman" said McGonagall.

"And she planned out the drugging of Crabbe and Goyle with poisoned food," Ginny added.  Alexis walked over to the Gryffindor table, but was slightly bewildered by the nasty look on Hermione's face.

"Knock it off, you three," Hermione hissed as Don Grant was called up.

Ron grinned and said, "Three so far.  Ok, she was bad her first year as well.  She went down the third row corridor.  She broke curfew for Norbert.  She broke curfew again to retrieve the stone.  And when she went down the trapdoor, she broke an order from McGonagall.  Wow, that's already 7!"  Hermione steamed as Don was greeted as the second Gryffindor, and Christina Long and Carla Miller were both sorted as well.

"Let's move on to her evil 3rd year," Harry whispered.  "Will Morrell," called McGonagall.

Ron gravely said, "Ah, yes, the year she descended into attacking teachers instead of stealing from them.  That's 8."  "Ravenclaw!" called the Sorting Hat.

"Does aiding a convicted murderer count?" Ginny asked, "Or how about consorting with a werewolf?"  McGonagall called up Zach Owen.

"Of course it counts!" Ron said.  Hermione was red from anger.  As Zach made his way to sit down at the Gryffindor table, he kept chancing intimidated looks in her direction.

"Ok, we've got 10 so far.  Last year, she broke a rule from the prefect," Harry said.

Ron quickly added, "I don't know why.  That was a great rule!"  Ginny silently laughed, and Leslie Phillips was sorted into Slytherin.

"Oh, that's right!  She Bogie'd the entire 7th year guys dorm," Harry said, while the sorting hat announced Adam Rose as a Hufflepuff.

"12!  Well, that's certainly a handful!" Ron crowed.

Hermione looked extremely miffed and sarcastically said, "You didn't say anything from my 4th or 5th year.  Bad memory?"

"Wait a minute!" Ginny whispered, "Her 5th year she tried to break the age line Dumbledore set up!"  Ron and Harry chortled while Steve Smith was sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Well," Hermione hissed, "I must have broke a rule my 4th year as well, then!"  As Eric Topp was sorted, Harry, Ginny, and Ron racked their brains.  Each second they failed to come up with something, Hermione's mood turned from sour to vindicated.

"Well?" Hermione smugly asked; "Wolff, Tamara" called McGonagall.

"Rita Skeeter!" blurted Harry.  "Gryffindor!" cried the hat.

"You didn't tell anyone that Rita Skeeter was an unregistered animagus, and blackmailed her!" Harry crowed.  Tamara was slightly taken back by the nasty look on Hermione's face.

Before any of the four could say anything else, Dumbledore stood up to and announced, "I have some quick start of term announcements before we begin the start of term feast.  First, the Triwizard tournament has been cancelled this year.  I have requested this due to recent events, although I cannot tell you at this time what they are."  Harry gave a shudder, having a good idea what Dumbledore was talking about.

"Second," Dumbledore spoke, "Anyone wishing to be part of their house Quidditch team should talk to Madame Hooch.  Last, we have instituted a new program at Hogwarts for 6th and 7th year students.  In order to help them decide what they want to do once they leave Hogwarts, we are implementing co-operative classes.  Each class will spend a week in a practical, related job field.  Your professors will have more information for you in class."

Harry grew excited at this – hopefully he'd have an idea of what he wanted to do before he left.  "Now," Dumbledore said, "I think it's time for some food."  Harry smiled as the customary variety of foods appeared on the table.  No matter how many feasts he ate at Hogwarts, he still appreciated the quality of the food.

Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry ate the feast, all talking back and forth about Quidditch, future jobs, and classes.  However, as the feast ended, McGonagall walked up to Hermione with a nasty look on her face.

"Why," she demanded, "are all the first year Gryffindors afraid of you, Miss Granger?"  Hermione looked at the end of the table, and immediately, the four new students jumped in alarm.  Don and Tamara immediately looked down; Alexis and Zach both managed to look back at her, but their hands were slightly shaking.

Hermione didn't know what to say, and McGonagall continued, "Well? Why are they all afraid of you?"

Hermione still didn't have an answer, and McGonagall said, "You can imagine my surprise when I look over at you during the sorting ceremony, looking like the personification of hostility.  And adding to that, you talked through the ceremony as well!  I don't know what you were thinking, but we hold our Head Boy and Girl to a higher standard."

At her last two words, Harry, Ginny, and Ron fought not to break out laughing.  Hermione couldn't find anything to say, but it was really moot anyway since McGonagall was already marching back to the staff table.

Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Harry elbowed him.  "If you value your life at all," Harry whispered, "you will not say anything to her right now."  Ron looked over at Hermione, and saw how angry she was.

"I'm sorry," Ron whispered, and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Get your hand off me, Mr. Weasley!" Hermione growled.  Ron jerked his hand back, his mouth hanging open.  Hermione stood up, and called for the Gryffindors to follow her.

"Oh, boy, he's in trouble now!" Harry chortled to Ginny.

---

Kaelli: Wow!  Thanks!

Penda: Glad you like it!

Ariel: Sorry!  Can't tell you what Harry does.  I don't think I'm going to get into Harry's parents, either.  Each time I read a story where Harry's parents are high-level aurors, or where James was a Quidditch star, or where they worked at the ministry, etc. it seems to take away something.  I'm comfortable not knowing what his parents did for a living.  Maybe I'm just weird.

Suzanne: Hehe, can't tell you what Harry's going to do, either!

Seifer: Wow, everyone's anxious about Harry's future.  Hmmm… I wasn't planning on doing a sequel to this story, but…

**HEY!  YOU!  The one with the hand over the mouse, about to click the back button on your browser!  Go over to the side and click that 'Go' button to review this story, you know you want to!**


	7. Barry, the Banshee Beating Boy

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

The next day at breakfast, Hermione was still distancing herself coldly from Ron.  Ron still didn't look like he knew what he was going to do.  Suddenly, Parvati, who was sitting two seats away dropped her silverware.  Harry looked over, and saw that Parvati was completely ashen, and the note she held in her hands was trembling slightly.

"Parvati, what's wrong?" asked Lavender.  Parvati didn't answer, but quickly clutched the note she had been reading to her chest.

"What did the note say?" Lavender asked.

"Nothing!  The note said nothing!" Parvati said desperately, and stuffed it into her robes.

"Obviously it said something, otherwise you wouldn't be so upset," argued Seamus.

"Come on, you can tell us," pleaded Dean.

Parvati looked more panicked than Harry had ever seen her, and he loudly said, "Everyone, leave Parvati alone.  If she doesn't want to tell you what the note says, that's her business."  Parvati shot a trembling look of gratitude to Harry.  Everyone still looked like they wanted to know what was going on, and Harry jokingly called out, "Come on, we have Defense Against the Dark Arts in 10 minutes.  And I've got some people to stun."  Several of the 7th years laughed, remembering Harry's play-acting as an evil wizard the year before.

"Welcome class!" Professor Delacour called as the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws sat down for class.  "I have good news for everyone.  I am now the longest lasting Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts in the last 23 years."

Everyone in the class cheered, and Fleur called out, "So in celebration, I think we can take it easy for the day."  Everyone in the class besides Hermione cheered again.

"Ok, I've actually got a few announcements to make.  First, our class is the first co-op class.  We're meeting with Al Brown, an Auror with the Ministry of Magic on Monday the third week.  We'll be working on little projects for him, both to help them out a little and to give you an idea of what aurors typically do."

"Also, I think we should do some brush up, so you're all prepared once we get there.  I've arranged a little activity for the day, but it shouldn't require too much work.  I want you to divide up into pairs."

Ron immediately looked at Hermione.  Hermione ignored him and looked to Harry.  Harry grew angry, shot her a glare and mouthed, "Knock it off."  Hermione took in Harry's look and slowly turned back around to face Ron.  

Harry got up and walked over to Neville's desk.  "Ok," Fleur said, "I've sectioned off the 2nd level of the dungeon, and have put 20 dark creatures down there as well.  Your job is to corral them back up here, or failing that, destroy them.  And of course, this activity wouldn't be the same without the dark wizards."

At this, the class all groaned, and Harry swore he heard Ron mutter, "This is taking it easy…?"  Fleur laughed and said, "I want one member from each group to come up and draw a piece of parchment from my hand.  If your group gets a slip with 'Evil' written on it…" Fleur dropped off, seeing all the looks from the students, "Ok. You know what you're supposed to do.  However, if you do stun anyone, you must revive them.  If you're stunned, don't say who did it; just come back up to class.  Well, come up and draw your lot."

Half the class walked up, and Neville came back and handed Harry the parchment.  Harry was relieved – it was blank.

"Ok, you may start," Fleur called.  Harry quickly looked around, in case anyone wanted to get off to a quick start.  Fortunately, everyone else appeared to be worrying as well and no one appeared ready to start hexing people.

Harry carefully slipped out of the dorm with Neville closely behind.  "Time for the trump card," Harry whispered.

"What?" Neville whispered back.

Harry smiled and cast "_Nutusus__ Aegis."_

"That's cheap, Harry" Neville muttered, "How are we supposed to learn caution if we can't get hit by a spell?"

"You're partly right," Harry admitted, "Tell you what – you decide.  Do you want to use it or not?"

Neville looked a little torn, and finally said, "No.  It's tempting, though."  Harry nodded, and removed the willpower spell.  He felt his senses pick up, now that he was vulnerable.

"Let's go," Harry said, and they took off for the dungeons.

As Harry and Neville entered the dungeon, they both heard Lavender's voice call, "Hi, Harry, Neville!"

Harry turned around, wand ready.  "What are you doing, Harry?" Lavender asked.

Parvati must have figured out what was happening and said, "Harry, we're not the dark wizards."

Harry didn't drop his guard for a minute and called, "Then you won't have a problem with us leaving, will you?"

Lavender looked a little hurt, and said, "Ok.  We'll see you later."  Harry backed away, never taking his eyes off the pair.

"Wow," Neville whispered, "you can get really paranoid at times."

Harry laughed and whispered back, "Constant Vigilance."  Neville simply shook his head, and the two continued to patrol the dungeon.

"What are you two doing!" called a voice, which Harry recognized as vintage Snape.

Neville slowly turned around, and muttered something.

"Longbottom, I didn't hear that!  Speak up, idiot!" Snape hissed.

Harry smiled, and strode forward.  "And what do we have here?  Potter?  I shouldn't be surprised.  You both have detention."

"Riddikulus!" Harry said, and Snape immediately started singing a silly song about 329 Points.

"A bogart," Neville whispered, finally catching on.

"Yep.  Finish it off, Neville." Harry said.

Neville proceeded to conjure a dark and quiet container to store the bogart in.  Harry quickly forced the bogart in, and Neville closed the opening off.

"Nice job, you two!" called a voice from behind them.

Harry whipped around and was greeted by Hermione and Ron, and he absently noticed they still weren't holding hands as usual.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked.

Ron burst into laughter and said, "He's gone paranoid.  Look at his eyes."

Hermione laughed as well and said, "Moody would be proud, Harry!"

Harry still didn't drop his guard, until Ron threw his wand into the air and said, "Whoops!  I dropped my wand!  I hope you don't stun me!"

Hermione giggled, and said, "That's ok.  I'm sure I can take both of them, what with Harry's unbreakable shield blocking them."

"Yeah," laughed Ron, "You could just hit him upside the head with a plank of wood for being such a prat!"  At this, even Harry had to laugh.

"Very funny, Ron," Harry finally managed, "But how did you know we weren't the evil wizards?"

Hermione said, "Well, two reasons.  First, you were capturing a bogart, which wouldn't have been what you're supposed to be doing.  Second, even if you were the dark wizards, you would've cast your shield spell on yourselves.  Even constant vigilance wouldn't have helped us defeat you."

Harry smiled, and said, "Well, cast Jelly Legs on me, then!"

Hermione frowned and cast the spell; Harry promptly hit the ground with ineffective legs.

"You… you don't have the shield up!  Why?" Ron sputtered.

Harry smiled and said, "Neville made a good point about not being able to learn caution if you didn't feel any risk."  Neville managed a weak grin, and Harry continued, "Personally, though, I wouldn't mind some accompaniment doing this.  You saw how twitchy people can get when Fleur's been teaching them."

Hermione and Ron laughed, and agreed to tag along.  After fixing Harry, the four made their way through the dungeons, and although they had advantage of numbers, Harry still cast nervous looks to the rest of the groups they ran into.

As the class period's end drew close, Harry grew more paranoid – surely the dark wizards would be trying their hardest now.  Everyone else seemed to be under the same thoughts; under different circumstances Harry would have found the sight of all the twitchy students amusing.

"You go first, Neville," Mandy Brocklehurst said.  Neville grimaced and shook his head.  The entire class was standing outside the classroom, clearly afraid to turn their back on the rest of their peers and enter first.

"Why don't you go in then, Mandy," called Seamus.

"So much for Gryffindor bravery!" said Terry Boot.

Harry laughed, and said, "Fine, I'll go first."  Although he had a calm exterior, he was inwardly hoping that everyone thought he had his shield up, so they wouldn't try to stun him.

Harry entered the class, and walked to his seat with the bogart enclosure.  The rest of the class trickled in nervously.  "Well," called Fleur, "I see that no one was stunned.  So who were the dark wizards?"

No one answered her, and Fleur smiled.  "What?" cried Ron.  "There were no dark wizards?"

Professor Delacour smiled even wider and said, "No, there weren't.  But the attitude you had down there was exactly what you need when you co-op with the aurors.  Dark wizards aren't everywhere.  Neither is deceit.  You just need to be ready for it at all times, so you can handle it when it does come.  Class dismissed."  The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws all left class, shaking their heads.

"UGH!  Someone needs to tell her to stop messing with our heads!" Ron complained as the trio made their way back to the commons.

Hermione laughed as she sat down by the fire, "At least you weren't paranoid like Harry was.  Ooh, I really wish Colin could have been there to take a picture."

Harry grinned guiltily but said, "I notice that you two didn't catch any dark creatures.  I wonder what you were doing down there before we met up with you, all alone…"

Ron replied, "You're just being paranoid, Harry!"  At this, all three burst into laughter.

"Well, are you ready for Arithmancy, Harry?" Hermione called.

Harry frowned and asked, "Why?  I can't imagine the first class being very difficult."

Hermione grinned.  "You don't remember Professor Vector very well, do you?"

"Er, she was somewhat short, had blond hair," Harry listed, "And I seem to remember she acted rather oddly.  But you're right, I really didn't pay too much attention to her.  Why?  Is today going to be bad?"

Hermione involuntarily giggled and whispered something into Ron's ear.  Ron looked like he was trying to keep a straight face, and Harry finally asked, "Ok, what am I missing?"

Hermione covered her mouth and said, "Er, No Harry.  You're right, it's the first class, and it won't be very difficult."  Harry looked back and forth between the two, but couldn't get rid of the suspicion that there was some joke he wasn't let in on.

"Well, Well," cried Professor Vector as she started the class, "I see we have a new arrival today.  What's your name again?  Barry?"

Harry looked oddly at the short blond haired professor, and finally replied, "Harry.  Harry Potter."

"Oh!  Harry Potter!  I seem to remember hearing something about you," Vector said.  _Here we go again, thought Harry._

"Yes!  You were that kid who defeated the banshee eight years ago," called Vector.

"What?" Harry involuntarily sputtered.

"You're… not the kid who defeated the banshee?" asked Vector, crestfallen.

"No," answered Harry, still amazed that Vector didn't know who he was.

"Oh, well," Vector said slowly, "To tell you the truth, I let you into the class because of that.  Maybe you should leave."

"What!" Harry yelped, "But… But… I'm the boy-who-lived!"  Harry was amazed at what he was saying.  He had never referred to himself as that, and somewhat deplored the title.

"Boy…Who…Lived?" asked Vector, confused.  Harry looked around, but found nobody was looking at him, although a few had small smiles on their faces, including Hermione next to him.

"The…Er…" Harry sputtered, "Uh, I defeated Voldemort 6 years ago as well."

Vector shook her head, and finally said, "So… You're not the kid who defeated the banshee."  She still looked like she didn't believe a word he said.

Harry could only shake his head in disbelief.  "Oh well," Vector sighed, "we can't all be heroes.  Just try to keep up, ok?"

Harry's jaw hung as she started the lecture, reviewing a lot of the work the class had done the year before.  Suddenly, Vector turned around and loudly said, "Harry Potter, I want only correct answers out of you, got it!"

Harry was stunned again and mutely nodded.   "OK!" Vector said, stalking towards him, "What is the 5th Mersenne prime?"

Harry gulped.  He had no clue, but stammered, "13?"

"INCORRECT!" roared Vector.  Amazingly, many members of the class were trying to refrain from giggling.  Especially Hermione.

"Let's try again.  What are two counter number/spells?" hissed Vector.  Harry was reminded of his first horrible year with Professor Snape.

"Er…" Harry started.  Professor Vector finished her march up to his desk, and threw her arms down on the table and looked him in the eye, inches from his face.

"You don't know, do you, Mr. Potter?" Vector whispered.

"No," Harry admitted.

Suddenly, Vector let out a great bark of a laugh, and crowed, "Finally a correct answer!  It only took him two tries!"  The rest of the class laughed, and Vector continued by saying, "Maybe you do have some potential.  Keep working, Potter, and maybe you'll defeat a Banshee, too!"

Vector left Harry alone for the rest of the lecture, but Harry's mind was still reeling from what a horrible professor Vector was.  Finally, Hermione said, "Come on, Harry, class is over."  Harry was still in shock, and Hermione had to link her arm through his and haul him out of the room and back up to the commons.

----

Suzanne: Yeah, I actually had to wrack my brain to remember all the rules she broke.  I probably missed few as well.

Penda: You're right – I love ongoing jokes!  I knew I wanted another argument during the sorting, but I didn't want them to argue again about McGonagall's words.  
About the trumpet – I think you're the only one who wants it.  To tell you the truth, it's the part of the second story I like the least, but hey – to each their own.

Ariel: Sorry, I don't have any plans for Rita Skeeter.  It's really hard to find something for her, unless you're going to make her some sort of secret agent for Dumbledore.

Kim:  Oh, don't worry.  You'll get your wish.  The majority of the story features Lucius against Voldemort.

Garina: You know, I really didn't decide on a head boy.  So I didn't write about it.  If it worries you, though, I could just proclaim it to be… hmmm…. Terry Boot.  Yeah, that's not bad.

**Anyway, thanks all who have reviewed.  If I'm not thanking you in that previous sentence… PLEASE REVIEW!!!**


	8. Voldemort and his Public Relations Consu...

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

"What are we going to do about beaters?" Ron asked, for at least the hundredth time that day.

"I don't know!" Harry said, exasperated.  He was frankly tired of hearing Ron talk about the teams, and he was still a little preoccupied with Vector's first lecture.

"Should we go with Dean and Seamus?" Ron asked, apparently oblivious to Harry's annoyance, "You know, as a temporary solution for the year?  Or should we get some young talent, that can spend several years as beaters, like Fred and George did?"

Harry was fed up, and finally said, "Why don't you get Parvati and Lavender to do it?"

Ron looked at him and actually seemed to be considering his suggestion.  Harry hit his forehead in frustration, and walked across the pitch.

"Calm down, Harry," Ginny said, soothingly, "You know how much he cares about Quidditch.  Just let him have his fun."

Harry nodded, and decided to just wait Ron out.  Sure enough, Ron eventually decided upon the Dean and Seamus as the new beaters.  "I'm sure they'll accept," Ron gushed, "and it's just a temporary measure.  The captain next year can worry about getting more permanent replacements."

Harry nodded again, and said, "Well, make sure you train them up.  In fact, you might consider having some practices just for them, before you throw them up in the air with the rest of us."

Ron smiled and said, "This is going to be the best season ever!"

"I've got a surprise for you all," Flitwick crowed.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione leaned forward in their seats.  _Hopefully, Harry thought, __Charms will be better than the Arithmancy class yesterday._

"As Dumbledore told you," Flitwick called squeakily, "each class is doing a co-op for a week.  And I've decided that ours will be with… The Weasley Wizard Wheezes!"

Ron, Harry, Seamus, and Dean immediately cheered.  Hermione looked neutral, but Lavender and Parvati looked a little disappointed.

Flitwick continued in his high pitched voice, "Now, before we go, there is one additional branch of charms we must learn: chain effect spells.  Can I have a volunteer?"  Everyone looked at Harry, who thought _Why__ am I always the class guinea pig?_

"Fine," Harry relented, "I'll help."

Flitwick smiled, held up a small candy, and said, "Can you eat this, please?"

Harry blocked out all the thoughts warning him against eating unknown foods, and ate the custard.  A few seconds later, he turned into a canary.

As the class burst into laughter, Harry heard through his new bird ears, "Yes, that was one of the Weasley's Canary Creames.  But how does it work?"

Ron eagerly said, "It casts a partial transfiguration on the eater."

Flitwick smiled and said, "It?"

Ron looked confused, and said, "The candy."

"No, Weasley," Flitwick replied, "The candy didn't cast anything.  It's a chain effect spell.  You see, your brothers cast it, but it only takes place when a condition is met – in this case, someone eating it.  How about this?" Flitwick then held up what all the Gryffindors recognized as a dungbomb.  Several of them groaned.

"That's a dungbomb," Harry answered, finally molting.

"Correct, but how does it work?" Flitwick asked.

Hermione said, "It conjures a foul smelling gas."  She saw the look Flitwick was giving her, and hastened, "I mean, a spell was cast to conjure foul smelling gas, when the bomb was let off."

"Exactly!  5 points to Gryffindor," beamed Flitwick, who then explained, "Chain effect spells are a little tricky, since you need to think of two things at once.  First, you must know the incantation.  This is the simple part – all you have to do is precede your words with _Commoror.  The difficult part is to think clearly inside your mind what a person has to do to set off the spell.  In the Canary Creames, the Weasleys imagined eating something."_

"Now, were going to try it out," Flitwick said, handing out some small sticks, "by making these twigs levitate themselves.  I want you each to think up a code word, and when someone says it, the stick will rise in the air.  What will your incantation be?"

"_Commoror__ Ramus Leviosa," chorused a few students._

"And you'll be thinking about?" Flitwick asked.

"People saying our password," several other students replied.  Flitwick beamed, and the students began working on their branches.

Harry smiled, and tried to think of a password.  _Hmmm… how about, 'Voldemort'?__  Nobody else will use that.  Or better!  'Who hates Voldemort'?  Soon after, Harry had successfully charmed his stick, and was amused as the twig would rise every time he asked his question.  Harry looked over; Ron and Hermione were not amused by his code phrase.  Ron especially, since Ron absolutely detested anyone saying you-know-who's name._

"You know," Harry whispered to the two, "I can really see how Fred and George like doing this."  Ron smiled and nodded back.

After everyone got the hang of the twig raising, they proceeded to more advanced charms, going all the way up to partial transfigurations.  Finally, Flitwick called out, "Ok, I think class is about up.  There's no homework, and next class we'll be working on multiple chains, so one spell can set off another."

Harry was excited at his classes.  He was actually learning a lot, except for Divination, and they had only been back at Hogwarts for three days.  However, Arithmancy stuck in his mind, and turned to Hermione in the Great Hall during breakfast.

"Hermione," he asked, "Why is Vector so… nasty?"

Hermione looked at him, and said, "She's not nasty."

"What?" Harry demanded, "She's not nasty?  Didn't you see what happened on Monday?"

Hermione chuckled, "She was just toying with you, Harry.  Don't worry, you'll develop a thicker skin.  It took me awhile to get used to her, too."

Harry still didn't quite believe her, but turned back to his bacon and eggs.  His fork was knocked aside as Hedwig delivered a letter.

"Thanks, Hedwig," Harry replied, a little sarcastically.  Hedwig gave him a nip on his thumb, and took off with a piece of bacon.  Harry shook his head, and opened up the note.

_Hi Harry!_

_It's Steven!  Carol and I decided to send you a quick note, telling you we're a little sorry for what happened.  Well, not too sorry, since you did manage to escape your relatives because of us (Do the Weasleys know you weren't really attacked?)_

_Anyway, make sure you come by and say hi to us sometime.  When you get better, you can duel Terry, too!_

_-Steven Boot_

Harry laughed out loud.  Steven and Carol picked up that the Weasleys came to get him up because of them, but they still didn't know that the 'duel' was staged.  "I'll have to go and say hi to them sometime," Harry resolved to himself.

When he looked up from the note, he saw that a large percentage of the hall was looking extremely nervous, and reading several copies of the Daily Prophet.  Some were even looking over other's shoulders, trying to see.  Harry frowned, and looked over at Hermione.

Hermione was biting her lip, and she handed to paper to Harry.

"HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED IS BACK" read the headline, in giant letters.  Harry frowned, and saw the title directly below it, "Mass Muggle Killings, Dark Mark Seen." Harry grimaced and read the article.

_He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned, and yesterday led the worst series of muggle killings since Grindelwald.  Towns stretching from Birmingham to London have been razed, and conservative estimates place the total casualties up to 1,900.  The Dark Mark has appeared over each town, and even worse, the inscription 'Voldemort has risen' has appeared in fiery letters at the center of each town square.  Despite this, the Ministry still denies that Voldemort has returned, although several Auror divisions are preparing for another large scale battle, despite Minister Fudge's orders._

Harry was appalled, but also a little confused.  "Why," he asked softly to the Ron, Ginny, and Hermione, "is Voldemort seeking publicity?"  Harry suddenly noticed that Parvati, two seats away, was crying silently but uncontrollably.  She stood up, and ran quickly from the hall.  Harry let out a sigh and said, "Poor woman."  He felt sorry for what she had to go through because of her sister.

----

Well, the actions starting to heat up.  I realize I've posted this chapter before all of you have even had a chance to review.  I hope nobody minds… :)

Beefywpac: If I do make a sequel, it will probably take place 10 years after Hogwarts.  When I get back after winter break, I will either start the sequel, or begin on another 5th through 7th chain.  I've already got a rough idea for the first story's plot, and the tentative name will be 'Harry Potter and the Legion of the Shadow'.

TrueFan: Hehe, I love to get people in trouble!

Seifer: Thanks!

Garina: Yeah, I was a little worried people would associate Barry with 'Barry Potter'.  I just needed a name that sounded like Harry, to make it seem like she heard Harry's name before, but just couldn't be bothered to remember it.  I didn't mean to tie it to a Potter parody.  In retrospect, I probably should've used 'Larry' or 'Henry'.

Ariel: Are you talking about Fleur, Parvati, or Vector?  I don't know why I'm asking; I'm not going to tell you if any of them are evil or not.  I was just wondering.

TrueFan, Garina, and Penda have all asked for Irish Drinking Songs.  Does anyone else have an opinion?  I think I've got a decent place to put it, although it probably won't be for several chapters.

To hold you over….

_Ohhhh__… Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de,_

_Oh, Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di_

_You went onto the internet_

_And logged into F-F-Net.___

_Another chapter's up of_

_Kevin's story… you bet!_

_But when you're done, Review!_

_Give me your raves and vents_

_As surely as I write this_

_I want your two cents!_

_Ohhhh__…Aye-de-di-de-di-de…_

**Please Review!**


	9. A Note From Home

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

After Quidditch practice, Harry decided to go for a walk instead of going back to the commons.  _It didn't make much sense, Harry thought as he walked along the grounds.  __Voldemort__ doesn't have anything to gain by the attack.  Well, maybe he's trying to prove he's still powerful.  Maybe he hopes that he can get more of Lucius' group to switch over to his.  Still, this doesn't look good._

Harry noticed a sitting silhouette against the sunset, on the hill overlooking the lake, and decided to walk over to see who it was.  He was surprised; it was Parvati, and she was yet again crying.

Harry sat down next to her, and gently put his hand on her shoulder.  She immediately turned and started sobbing into his robes, "I'm…It's…I can't…"

Harry gently patted her back and said, "It's ok, Parvati.  What's going on?"

Parvati looked him in the eyes, her face obviously torn on what she was going to do.  She strongly reminded Harry of Dobby when he had something he wanted to say, but couldn't.

Harry gently added, "Don't worry, I promise I won't tell anyone."

Parvati broke down again, and handed him a brittle piece of parchment.  Harry was confused, but read what appeared to be Padma's handwriting, although it was very shaky.

_Parvati__,_

_I'm so sorry!  I didn't realize what I had done.  I'm fighting him now, and I can break through for a few minutes.  Sister, I never imagined what evil Voldemort is capable of, and I pray you never find out._

_I managed to write and owl you this when I got control momentarily.  I think I might finally be able to kick him out completely, but I'll need your help and support._

_As soon as I grow strong enough, I will head home.  But it's vitally important that you don't tell ANYONE about this.  Otherwise the death eaters might find out and stop me._

_- With sorrows and love,_

_Padma___

Harry read the note twice, and turned it over in his head while Parvati was gently sobbing.  He knew that Voldemort was week – could Padma actually be fighting him?  But what if she wasn't?  This could be some ploy, something to help him hide from the ministry, who were by the looks of things about ready to actually start looking for him, and from Lucius' group, who would be even more eager to finish him off than the aurors.

Harry was skimming the note absently when a word stuck out in his mind.  _'Voldemort?!' he thought, __I've never heard Padma refer to him as Voldemort, even at the end of last year when she was about to merge with him.  That's very odd…_

"Parvati," he spoke intently, "I want you to promise me you will not go home to meet Padma, no matter what.  I also want you to promise me that you'll tell me if she sends you any other notes."

Parvati trembled, "Why?"  Harry hesitated, afraid to tell her that the note was probably still from Voldemort, and Parvati continued, "You know something… something you're not telling me!"

Harry had to admit to himself she was absolutely correct.  Not only did he know where the note probably came from, but why it was being sent in the first place.  "I'm sorry," he softly said, "but I can't tell you."

Parvati turned nasty, and slapped him hard.  "My sister's life is in danger," she hissed, "and here I thought I could trust you!"  Parvati ran back to the castle, and Harry sighed as he looked over the lake.

Harry thought for several minutes, trying to decide if he could've handled the situation any better, and wondered whether Parvati would tell him when Padma mailed her again.  He felt a hand on his shoulder, and watched as Ginny sat down next to him, exactly where Parvati was ten minutes before.

"Hi Harry.  You look a bit out of it." Ginny said.

Harry couldn't help a small smile and said, "Yep."

"I saw you up here with Parvati."  For one brief moment, Harry thought that she was jealous, until she added, "I know she's upset about Padma and Voldemort, but she seemed really upset when she got a note earlier today.  I was wondering if she told you what's wrong."

Harry bit his lip, wondering how much to tell her.  After all, he did promise Parvati he wouldn't tell anyone.  Ginny saw his face and said, "It's ok, Harry.  I understand, you don't have to tell me."

Harry let out a relieved smile, and leaned over and gave her a quick kiss.  "Will you do me a favor," he asked, "Can you tell me if she gets another note?"

Ginny smiled and nodded.  "We should probably get back soon," she whispered.

Harry grunted, but neither moved, and instead watched the sunset over the lake together.

Although Divination continued to stump Harry, classes were probably going better than ever before.  Charms was easier than ever, and he was even surpassing Hermione, which was a constant annoyance to her.  Potions was actually somewhat fun, and Harry was glad Snape was on his side.  And McGonagall was a lot lighter on him since he had helped out the school so much last year.

However, Trelawney seemed determined to ruin Firenze, Ron, and Harry's good moods.  Everyday she would act insolent around the centaur, and it got worse every day.  Finally, she erupted while Firenze was talking about Astrology. "SILENCE!" she yelled, with no trace of mistiness in her voice.

The rest of the class looked at her in surprise, including Firenze.  She screamed, "You're not a seer!  You think you can read the sky!  You don't know anything, you dirty centaur!"

The class all stared at her, and Firneze had a small smile on his face.  Trelawney finally hollered, "I'm not surprised someone would cut off YOUR SODDING HOOF!"

Firenze couldn't have looked more devastated.  Harry watched with alarm as the centaur's face broke, and his head immediately bowed.  Firenze slowly walked to the front door and left the class without a word.

Trelawney, possibly seeing the looks of utmost loathing on the majority of the class, said, "Class is dismissed early today."  Harry couldn't help but notice that she didn't' follow the centaur and instead exited the trapdoor, so Harry and Ron sped off to console Firenze instead.

However, Firenze seemed to have fled, and Harry and Ron couldn't find any trace of him.  "Lonliness," Harry muttered softly to himself.

"Oh, we're going to get that Bat back, just wait," Ron growled.

Hermione and Ginny caught up to them, and said, "Hey guys, you ready for Hogsmeade?" until they saw the looks on the boys faces.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked.

Harry and Ron were still grinding their teeth, and Ron finally simply said, "Revenge."

"Harry," Ginny said softly, "you know what we talked about earlier with Parvati?"  Ron and Hermione looked at her puzzled, and Harry simply nodded.  "Well," she said, "She got one today."

"What did she look like?  Angry?" Harry asked.

"No," Ginny answered, "she looked normal… well, maybe a little excited.  I don't know for sure."

Ron and Hermione looked at the pair in confusion, and finally Ron asked, "Er, Harry, is there anything you need to tell us?"

Harry looked at the two, thinking things over.  "No," he finally responded, "I made a promise not to tell anyone.  I'm sorry."

Ron looked a little grumpy, but didn't say anything.  Hermione piped up, "I can't wait to see the Weasley Wizard Wheezes shop tomorrow."

The entire group had been looking forward to the first Hogsmeade weekend, and Hermione's reminder of cheered Ron up. "I visited it once this summer," Ron gushed, "It's really great – they've got different sections for how strong the prank is.  Get this, they organized it by how many points you'd lose by using it at Hogwarts."

Harry and Ginny laughed; Hermione scowled.  Harry asked, "What's the highest category they've got?"

Ginny smiled and said, "Why, Harry!  I would have never!" in a voice remarkably close to McGonagalls.

Harry laughed again, and Ron said, "Well, the Yellow section is 10-20 points.  I think they've got stronger stuff, but I didn't see any in the store."

Hermione said, "20 points? That's an awful lot for one prank."

Harry and Ron looked at her in disbelief, and Ron finally said, "That's the point!  Oh, you've got to see it, Harry, they've come up with all these new products they didn't tell me about."

Harry, Ginny, and Hermione guided the slightly over-energetic Ron back to the Gryffindor commons, and they all decided to go to their respective rooms.

Hermione shook her head as she entered the 7th year girls dorms.  She was sure that Harry and Ron were discussing the various prank items they could buy.  Suddenly, she noticed that Parvati appeared to be packing for the weekend.

"Parvati," she asked, somewhat confused, "I thought you weren't leaving this weekend."

Parvati turned around nervously.  "Er," she stammered, "I'm going to Hogsmeade."

"Why," Hermione asked slowly, "are you packing to go to Hogsmeade?"  Parvati couldn't come up with anything, and Hermione's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Parvati seemed to realize that Hermione suspected something and caved in.  "Listen, I'm going home for the weekend.  But you have to promise that you won't tell anyone!"  Parvati saw the look of doubt on Hermione's face and said, "Hermione, I want you to give me your word you won't tell anyone!"

"Ok," Hermione said softly, "I won't tell anyone."

"Even Harry?" Parvati hissed, still unsure.

"Even Harry," Hermione confirmed.

Parvati finally finished packing her trunk and closed it.  After she picked it up and started to leave, Hermione asked, "What?  You're leaving now?  But we still have our Friday classes!"

Parvati shot back, "It's ok.  I, er, cleared it with the professors.  Just remember your promise, Hermione."  Hermione scowled, and slightly regretted giving her word to her roommate.

----

Ooooh, what's going to happen with Parvati…

As some of you discovered, I was up late last night.  Well, technically, I was up late this morning.  Our App Development class had a final project due at 9:45 AM, and I didn't get to sleep until after it.  Hopefully the chapter will make sense to someone who isn't sleep deprived.

Seifer: I realized I didn't know who to make the beaters.  So I took the wimpy road and took Dean and Seamus.  Oh well.

Kaelli: Actually, Prof. Vector is odd.  No other word for her.  She'll be an odd one through the story.  Don't get me wrong, though – I think I like her character even more than Fleur's…

Garina: Well, some of your questions are answered

Kim: I was just wondering – was the e-mail I sent you coherent?  I mean, I was up for how many hours at that point.

Please Review!!


	10. The Red Product

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

However, any thoughts of Parvati were brushed from Hermione's mind, as Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny made their way into Hogsmeade.

"Oh, come on, Hermione, there's the shop!" Ron cried excitedly, tugging on Hermione's hand.  Harry and Ginny laughed as Hermione whispered, "Honestly, you're like a little child."

Harry looked at the new shop the Weasley's owned, and was impressed.  Outside were giant moving posters of what some of the more spectacular pranks would do.  Harry was engrossed in one that showed someone eating a chocolate which would cause them to violently pass gas, when Ginny pulled him into the shop itself.

Harry and Ron gasped as they saw all the products along the shelf.  Sure enough, the store was divided into Blue, Green, and Yellow areas, and Harry spotted a sign that said:

_WWW Color Guide_

_Blue: Harmless_

_Best way to introduce yourself to the first years, without that loss of points_

_Green: 5-10 Points_

_Nasty.__  But a great way to get someone back…_

_Yellow: 10-20 Points_

_Anyone buying this can be considered our comrade!_

Sure enough, Ron immediately ran over to the Yellow section with Hermione in tow.  Harry turned around, and saw Fred and George.

"Hey, Harry!" chimed Fred.

"Glad you could make it!" added George.  While Ron appeared to already know the store pretty well, the twins took Harry on a tour, showing off the various products which they were proud of.

"It's the Transverse Time Turner!" boasted Fred, holding up an odd shaped amulet.  "It takes anyone in the same room with you, and transports them all exactly one hour into the future."

"We came up with it during potions," George explained, and Harry had to laugh.  It made sense the Weasley twins would find some way out of particularly bad classes!

"Tell me," Harry whispered to the two, "do you have a Red section?"

Fred and George grinned, and George said, "Indeed.  We wouldn't just let anyone in, though.  Even our younger brother doesn't know…"  Harry followed the two, and passed through an ordinary wall, similar to the platform 9 ¾ barrier at King's Cross.

It didn't even appear to be an ordinary store room, but rather an exotic laboratory.

"This here," Fred pointed, "is the Doomsday Dungbomb."

"Hey!" Harry said, "That's what you used on Hermione's room last year,"

George shook his head and said, "No.  That was actually just a prototype.  We've managed to make this about seven or eight times stronger than that."  Harry was visibly impressed, and the twins grinned.

"This," Fred continued, "is a Blackness Bomb.  When it's used, it sucks every trace of light within a room, even Lumos spells.  The only way to take it off is to come up with the code word, or manage to destroy the bomb.  Of course, that's really hard since you can't see it!"

Harry laughed, and George showed them the final product, "Tubby Transmutation!" he said proudly.  "It transfigures someone to look exactly like Dudley Dursley for 5 hours."

Harry laughed uncontrollably, and the twins joined in as well.  "I have to admit," Fred said after they were done laughing, "that using it wouldn't make anyone lose over 20 points.  But we felt that making someone look like Dudley was a crime beyond description, so it's not out in the shop."

George grinned and said, "Tell you what – you've helped us out so much, we'll give you a free red product."  Harry was hesitant, and Fred chimed in, "Go ahead!  It's not even really paying you back.  It's just so we can show our appreciation."

Harry smiled, and grabbed the Doomsday Dungbomb.  Fred cried a fake tear, and George said solemnly, "We're proud of you, son."

Harry jokingly said, "You guys have taught me well."  All three laughed and made their way back to the main shop area.

Ron spotted them and asked, "Harry, where were you?  I found this awesome gadget that turns your hair really weird colors!"

Fred, without hesitation said, "Oh, he had to use the loo."

George gave Harry a farewell wink, and the four students left the store, Ron loaded down with prank supplies.

"Ugh.  Do you realize how many points you're going to lose Gryffindor?" Hermione moaned.

"Yep," replied Ron happily, "I counted 'em up.  I think the total was 125-250."

Harry laughed, and wondered how many they'd lose if he used his gadget.

 "What's that?" Ginny asked, pointing to a run-down store, which Harry barely recognized as the old joke shop.

"Zonkos," Ron replied, a little gladly.  "Fred and George utterly crushed them.  They don't sell nearly as much as they used to, and I think they're almost out of business."  The four walked inside, and Harry had to admit the store looked on its final legs.  Most of the shelves were bare, and the products available were the ones few people would buy anyway.  The store owner didn't even bother coming over to greet them, and was sitting by the register holding some Firewhiskey.

"It's kind of sad," Harry muttered, feeling a little sorry for the owner.

"I heard that!" the owner said.

"Er, sorry," Harry mumbled.

The owner brushed the apology away and said, "Save your pity.  Fortunately, I put enough of the profits into Gringots that I can fully retire.  It's just a shame the store's going to close – it's been here for over 50 years.

Harry quickly said, "Have you talked with the Weasleys?  I mean, they weren't out to compete with you.  They just wanted to have a joke shop.  Maybe the two of you could come together; make something like 'Zonkos: Authorized Seller of Weasley Wizard Wheezes'.  If you've got enough money to retire, you could even sell the store to them – they might be willing to carry on Zonko's tradition.  I mean, they loved your products while they were at Hogwarts."

Harry was amazed at his speech, and could see that the owner was mulling over the possibility.  "Yer right…" he muttered, "They were always in here over the years… I'll have to have a talk with them."

As they exited the shop, Ron said to Harry, "I don't know about what you said, Harry.  I think they wanted to open their own shop."

Harry replied, "Then they can say no.  But it could end up helping both Zonkos and WWW out."

"That's it!  I'm tired of this!" cried Hermione, "All we've done so far is go to the joke shops and talk about the joke shops!"  She then pulled the group into the Three Broomsticks.  Harry volunteered to get the butterbeers, and the others found a booth towards the back.  Harry came back with the drinks, and scooted in next to Ginny.

The four sat in the booth for hours, talking about classes, co-ops, professors, and the future in general.  Harry was slightly amused as every butterbeer would bring Hermione closer to Ron, until she was leaning on him, resting her head on his shoulder.  However, shortly after, Ginny rested on him as well, and looked about ready to go to sleep.  When Hermione let out a small snore, Harry and Ron couldn't help but laugh, although softly so as not to disturb either of the girls.

"We need to get back to Hogwarts," Harry whispered.

Ron looked at the sleeping girls and said, "How are we supposed to do that with these two?"

Harry had to admit he was rather tired himself, and wouldn't like to carry Ginny all the way back to Hogwarts.  "How about _Mobilicorpus?  Does it hurt?"_

Ron thought a minute and said, "I don't know.  I don't think so."

"Tell you what," Harry said, "Try it out on me."  He disentangled himself from Ginny and leaned her against the opposite wall.

"_Mobilicorpus__," Ron whispered softly._

Harry felt himself gently rise up in the air.  It certainly wasn't painful; it actually felt like the air around him was made out of silk which was holding his weight.  "Actually," Harry admitted, "that feels kind of good."  Ron took the spell off of him, and the two cast the same spell on their girlfriends.

Hermione didn't make a sound, and Ginny made a gentle murmur as the two were gently guided out of the booth.  Harry and Ron shrugged, and began the short trip back to Hogwarts.  However, as they were climbing the stairs within Hogwarts, the stairwell changed and Ron lost his attention.  Hermione's ankle banged against the rail and she opened her eyes.

Hermione found herself looking straight up the large shaft of the Hogwarts stair area, and could feel she wasn't on the ground.  Before she gave it a second thought, she screamed, "AAAAAAGGGHHH!"  This woke Ginny up, who also let out a large brief scream.

"Sssshhhh!" Harry urged, "Filch will hear us.  It's past curfew now!"

Ron was unnerved by his girlfriend scream, and accidentally let her down abruptly.  "OW!" yelled Hermione, still not aware of what was going on.

Both Harry and Ron groaned as they heard Filch yell in the distance, "Students up past curfew?!  I swear I'll have you hanging by CHAINS!"  Harry and Ron quickly got Ginny and Hermione fully awake.

"Come on!" Harry urgently whispered, "We've got to go!  Filch will kill us!"  What seemed like an eternity later, Ginny and Hermione nodded and the four took off.  However, it was quite apparent that Filch was right on their heels.  Harry yelled, "Hold your breath!" and reached inside of his robes.  After grabbing the Doomsday Dungbomb, Harry roughly tossed it at the ground and ran even faster.

Harry was relieved as he heard Filch break off the chase and yell, "EEEEEEERRRRGGGHHHHH!!"  Ron quickly gave the Fat Lady the password, and the four collapsed in the common room, panting.

"That…" Ron gasped, out of breath, "was exciting!"

"Ronald Weasley," Hermione panted, "if you ever even think about doing that again…" but she couldn't finish her threat and had to get some more air.

Harry looked at the three of them, and burst into giggles.  Ron joined in, and both were soon fully laughing.  Ginny and Hermione eventually joined in, and the four laughed for several minutes, before quieting down and falling to sleep on the armchairs by the fire.

----

First, I've got some news.  I found out I don't have any finals on Friday, so I won't be going home on the 20th or 21st.  Instead, I will be going home on Thursday the 19th.  And I still have a lot of chapters to get up.  From now on, I will be posting two at a time.  So, you won't see any review feedback every other chapter from now on.

Kaelli: Yeah, Parvati should trust Harry.  Hmmm… Maybe I SHOULD kill her off…

Ariel: Good catch!  I reposted with the changes as soon as I got your review.

Beefywpac: Thanks!

Seifer: Wow, it seems everyone hates Parvati because she won't trust Harry.

**Anyways, please review!**


	11. The Patil Residence

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

They were woken at 7:30 the next day by an irate looking McGonagall.  "Classes have been cancelled!" she barked.

Harry and Ron tried their best to not look happy, and Ginny asked, "Why?"

McGonagall stared hard at the four and said, "There was a dungbomb attack around the stairway last night.  The stairwell is still too foul to traverse, so we have to cancel classes.  I was just wondering if any of you would know how a student would get their hands on a dungbomb that powerful."

Harry had a very strong suspicion that McGonagall knew they had done it, but said, "Are you sure it wasn't a conjured gas?  Neville did something like this accidentally two years ago.  Maybe the 5th years have been trying to practice in the corridors."

McGonagall shot him a look, and Harry fought to meet her gaze without blinking.  Finally, McGonagall said, "Well, I was just wondering.  Enjoy your day off, but I should certainly hope that it will never happen again.  Am I right?"

Harry and Ron fought not to grin, and merely nodded.  McGonagall finally turned around and left the commons.  All four let out sighs of relief.  Harry and Ron decided to play Wizard's Chess, while Ginny and Hermione talked by the fire.

"I wonder how we'll get food," Harry said, while watching his pieces set themselves up for another game.  As if on command, a house elf popped into the common room.

"You is asking for food, sir?" the house elf asked.

"Dobby?" Harry involuntarily asked.

The house elf turned around, and Harry could see it wasn't.  "No, sirs.  Dobby moved out last year, he did."

Harry realized he hadn't even tried to visit Dobby the last two years and felt a little guilty.  "Where," Harry asked, "did Dobby move to?"

The house elf squeaked, "Dumbledore tells Dobby, tells him to move to the Abbottses, and Dobby moves there to care for his Hannah."

All four grinned – none of them doubted that Dobby would be useful in helping Hannah out from her affairs last year.  "You is asking for food, sir?" The house elf asked again.

Ron shot a look at Hermione and said, "Just some roast beef sandwiches and pumpkin juice would be nice."

"Are you sure, sir?" asked the elf in surprise, "roast beef sandwiches is simple.  We is making you something better, if you wish, sir."

Ron nodded and said, "Just the sandwiches and juice, please."  The house elf gave a small yelp when Ron said 'please', and promptly disappeared.  Hermione walked over and gave him a hug and a smile.

"Now you're really a member of S.P.E.W." Hermione said softly.  Harry noticed that any trace of Hermione's anger from the sorting ceremony was gone.

Ron chuckled and said, "Ah, good ol' spew."

"Not spew!" Hermione said, and hit Ron on the shoulder, "It's S.P.E.W."

Ron laughed and gave Hermione a kiss.

Ginny and Harry laughed at the two of them, and Ginny said, "Have any of you seen Parvati?  I don't think I've ever seen her come back down from her room."

The house elf returned and quickly gave Ron the platter with the food.  As Ron began eating a sandwich, Harry worriedly exclaimed, "What?  Parvati left for the weekend?!"

Ginny was puzzled at Harry's reaction and asked, "What's wrong, Harry?"

Harry didn't answer her, and anxiously asked, "Do any of you know what Parvati did this weekend?  Where she went?"  No one answered him, but Harry quickly saw the odd look on Hermione's face.

"Hermione!" he asked quickly, "Did Parvati go anywhere this weekend?"

Hermione said, "No," but Harry could tell she wasn't telling the truth.

"Hermione, please!" Harry pleaded, "I need to know; did she go home!"  Hermione was about ready to deny it again, but noticed the desperate look on Harry's face, and slowly nodded.

Harry looked extremely alarmed and said, "You three, go to Dumbledore now!  Tell him that the Patil twins are meeting, and I'm going to help out," as he ran up the stairs to his room.

As Harry came back down with his pouch of Floo powder, the three were still sitting there.  "Harry, the smell…" Ron started.

"Ron!  This isn't the time," Harry ordered desperately, "Go now!  Parvati's in danger!"  This seemed to cut through their indecision, and the three set off to find the headmaster, even through the nauseous air from the dungbomb.

Harry quickly tossed some Floo powder into the commons and shouted, "Patil Residence."  Harry found himself in an unknown living room, and no one else was around.  Harry quickly drew his wand and began creeping around the house.

As he entered the basement, he found Padma standing silently over Parvati, who was in chains on the stone floor.  "_Stupefy!" Harry yelled, and breathed a sigh of relief as Padma fell to the ground._

"Oh, thank you, Harry, thank you!" Parvati said, half coherently.  Harry walked to untie Parvati, and felt an odd feeling in his stomach.  Parvati sobbed as Harry untied her, and as Harry stood back up, he felt something wasn't quite right.

"Oh, Harry, can we go back to Hogwarts.  Please!" Parvati sobbed.

Harry was about ready to turn around, and thought of something.  "In just a minute, Parvati," he said, "I want to revive Padma."

"Harry, don't!  She's not back!  Voldemort has control of her!" Parvati said in a scared voice.

"Calm down, it will be alright," Harry said.  Harry knelt down, and pointed his wand at Padma.  However, as he was about to perform the waking spell, he saw a glint to his right.  Without thinking, he dived forward, and heard something rip his robes, but fortunately didn't feel anything hit his skin.

Harry looked up, and saw Parvati bringing down a ceremonial dagger towards him again.  Harry brought his arm up, and managed to stop the second attack.  The two grunted, but neither was able to throw the other off.  Finally, Harry kicked the assailant in the shin and recovered his wand.

"Stupefy!" he cried again, just as Patil turned around to face him.  _I was right, Harry thought, __they switched.  Harry revived the girl who he originally thought was Padma._

"Harry," sobbed the real Parvati, "I'm sorry.  Padma was in chains, and held me there with the Imperius curse."  She ran over to him, but Harry stopped her and pointed his wand at her.  He wasn't taking any more chances.

"Harry, what…" Parvati stammered.

"What did Ginny's note I showed you last year say, and why did I show it to you?" Harry asked, his voice hard.

Parvati stammered, and said, "It said she was angry at me for asking you to the Christmas dance."

Harry whispered, "It is you," and walked over to comfort her.  Parvati began to cry on his shoulder when Harry looked down at Padma.  Her eyes were starting to glow red, which couldn't be good.

"Parvati, we've got to leave now," Harry said urgently.  Parvati nodded jerkily, and the two quickly made their way upstairs.

Harry ducked as he saw two death eaters Apparate in the yard outside.  Harry and Parvati kept low and made their way to the fireplace.  As soon as Harry stood up and was about to pull out his Floo powder, the front door opened and the two death eaters walked in.

"Inpedimentia!" Harry called, barely beating the death eaters at casting his spell.  Both death eaters were frozen in their places, wands almost completely done casting.  Harry quickly grabbed his pouch of Floo powder and grabbed Parvati.

"Gryffindor Commons!" Harry yelled, and the two left as the death eaters became unfrozen.

Harry spilled out of the fireplace holding onto Parvati.  Parvati immediately broke down and started crying into Harry's robes.

"I'm so sorry, Harry.  I'm so sorry!  I thought… I thought…" Parvati sobbed.

Harry gently patted her back, and chanted, "It's ok, It's ok.  We're back at Hogwarts.  We're safe."

Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore entered the commons.  Ginny's initial look of suspicion at the two huddled together turned to sorrow as she saw the shattered Parvati.  Dumbledore sighed and said, "Harry, is everything all right?  I take it there weren't any problems at the Patil residence."

Harry nodded back, and Dumbledore said, "Then I will see you all tomorrow.  Parvati, I would like to talk to you about Padma, but that can wait until tomorrow as well."

Dumbledore left, and Parvati resumed sobbing into Harry's shoulder.  After a few minutes, she cried herself to sleep, and Harry gently carried her form up the stairs.  When he arrived to the 7th years girls dorms, the door opened before him on its own, and Harry softly deposited Parvati on her bed and made his way downstairs.

Harry slouched down on one of the chairs, and Ginny ran over to him.

"What's wrong, Harry?  What happened?" Ginny asked.

Harry bowed his head, and said, "Voldemort preyed on Parvati.  He sent her a letter, about how Padma was supposedly regaining control and was about to kick Voldemort out of her body.  He got Parvati to come over to her house where he was waiting."

Ginny gasped, and embraced Harry.  Harry softly continued, "It's worse.  Voldemort must have known I would come, and prepared a trap.  He tied himself up, and forced Parvati to stand over him with the Imperius curse.  When I arrived, I thought Parvati was Padma, and Padma was Parvati.  I almost took Voldemort back here to Hogwarts.  When I insisted we wake Parvati – who I thought was Voldemort – up before we left, Padma attacked me with a dagger.  I managed to stun him, and get back here.  Before we left, we found two death eaters.  I imagine that if I took Voldemort back here, the death eaters would've killed the real Parvati, so that we'd never know until it was too late."

Ginny's jaw hung as she listened to Harry's story.  "Harry, that's… that's horrible!"

Harry nodded and said, "Parvati's really going to need her friends to help her out these next few days.  Ginny simply nodded, and the two sat with each other in silence.

----

A quick note: It's fun trying to decide what pronouns to use for Padma/Voldemort…

**Please Review!**


	12. Prancing Al and Lifeless Jim: Aurors at ...

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

Harry worried about how Parvati would take what happened during that weekend, but apparently she was doing ok.  While she wasn't her ordinary cheery self, she was acting relatively normal, and even smiled now and then.  Harry silently thanked Lavender, who seemed to take it as a personal challenge to draw her out of her shell.

While no one forgot about the encounter at the Patil residence, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry put it out of their minds as the first co-op came up for Defense Against the Dark Arts.  Both the 6th and 7th year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws entered Fleur's class at the start of Monday, and Fleur led them outside.

Harry smiled they all stepped into a giant horseless carriage.  As soon as everyone was aboard, the cabin began skimming the ground at incredible speeds.  Ginny huddled close to him, but Harry knew it was because the fast speed was making her a little nauseous.  Harry didn't blame her.  He was feeling a little queasy as well, and he was use to zooming around at fast speeds on his Firebolt.

Finally, they pulled up to a large building which Harry recognized as an adjunct building to the English Ministry of Magic.  A tall man dressed in dark grey robes exited and walked up to the carriage.  Fleur ushered them all out and the man smiled and introduced himself, "Hello!  I'm Albert Brown!  But I don't want any of you calling me Mr. Brown, and if any of you calls me Albert, I'll curse you back to the stone age.  You can all call me Al."

Harry smiled; he couldn't help but like Al.  "Anyway," Al continued, "I'm going to show you what Aurors do.  Most people think we spend our time hunting dark wizards all day.  In all truth, there aren't that many evil wizards.  We really spend most of our time taking care of dark creatures, instead.  For instance, did you know that the natural population of Bogarts had doubled within the last 50 years?  Well, we're really fighting back against it now, and in fact, we're going to be doing work on that today."

Harry nodded – this didn't sound too bad.  There were far worse things to be doing than hunting down dark creatures.  "Tell me," called Al, "is Hermione Granger among you?"

Hermione blushed and raised her hand.  "Excellent!" beamed Al, "I heard about you in the Triwizard Tournament last year.  So how did you do, taking on all those bogarts the first task?"

If anything, Hermione blushed stronger, but said, "Er, I did alright."

"Alright?" Al boomed, "Alright?!  You took on 30 bogarts at a single time, and you only did alright?  Well?  How did you do it?"

Hermione answered, "Well, I just made them do something humorous, one bogart at a time."  Seeing the expectant looks on everyone's face, even Al's, Hermione reluctantly continued, "The bogarts all took the form of Professor McGonagall giving me failing grades."  At this, everyone broke into laughter, even Ron, Harry, and Ginny, who already knew about the first task.

Hermione laughed a little as well, and said, "So I had them all break-dance."  All the students broke into peals of laughter, imagining the strict professor tearing it up on the dance floor.  Harry felt tears of laughter fall on his face, and Fleur was rolling on the ground.

When everyone calmed down enough, Al took them inside and introduced a few members of the team.  "And finally, we come to Jim.  Jim's a little down today, but that's because he realized he has no life."

"HEY!" yelled Jim, and Al laughed.  Jim whispered to the students, "Al's still mad about the curse I shot him last weekend."

"I am not!" Al retorted, "besides, that's below the belt, making me prance whenever I tried to go anywhere."  All the students laughed, and even Al joined them.

"Ok," Al instructed, "We're going to split up into four groups.  We've got a suspected lair of bogarts on a hill not too far from here.  Three groups will take perimeter, and a fourth will drive the bogarts to the other three.  Ok, first group – Ravenclaws with last names A-M.  You go with lifeless Jim."  Jim laughed, and beckoned his group over.

"Jim's group will take the north perimeter," continued Al, "Second group, the rest of the Ravenclaws.  You go with Susan.  You'll take the South-West perimeter.  Third group, Gryffindors with last names A-M.  You'll go with Barb and cover the South-East perimeter.  Finally, the rest of you get to come with me, Prancing-Al."

Everyone laughed, and the four groups went separate ways.  Harry felt a little sorry for Hermione, who was separated from Ron, Ginny, and him.  Al led them over to a special room, and everyone let gasps of surprise.  The room contained a countless assortment of brooms, and Al proudly said, "This is the Auror broom transportation repository.  When we need to get to someplace local quickly, we can come here."  Ron's mouth hung as he gazed at Nimbus 2001 after Nimbus 2001 on the shelves.

Al led them through, and each of them grabbed a Nimbus and left the building.  Finally, after flying for a few minutes, the group passed by the other three, already in a giant circle surrounding a small hill.  Each group seemed to have taken different forms of transportation.  One was dismounting from Hippogriffs, another seemed to have taken a modified version of Floo powder, given that a few still had puffs of smoke still billowing from around them.  Harry didn't see any clues how the last group arrived, and made a mental note to ask someone.

Al descended into the center, and began directing his group.  "Ok, everyone!" he yelled, "Stick together!  Don't let anyone go off by themselves.  Now, form up in a line, and let's do some sweeps."  The 10 students in Harry's group obligingly formed a long line, and began walking together over the hill.

Suddenly, several odd shapes popped up from the ground, apparently from nowhere.  One was a giant spider, two were vampires, another appeared to be a dementor, and the last actually looked a little like Voldemort.  A few people gave gasps of surprise, but the rest immediately cast "Riddikulus"  Harry had to laugh as the spider burst into flames, the vampires tripped over each other, the dementor took off his hood to reveal a face that looked exactly like Dumbledore's, and Voldemort started dancing and singing in a high pitched voice, "Follow the Yellow Brick Road…"

The bogarts seemed to realize they were under attack and fled in their various humorous shapes.  However, as they retreated east, Hermione's group drew their wands and made short work of them, and everyone cheered as the bogarts blew up.

Harry's group patrolled some more, but they didn't find any other bogarts.  "Ok!" called Al, "I think those five must have been all of them!  Good job, groups."  Everyone cheered again, and they all left back for the ministry.

The next day was just as enjoyable as the first, and all the groups got to do something, since the new hill had a total of 23 bogarts.  Harry laughed as he got to see a breakdancing McGonagall firsthand.

However, as Friday came around, Al announced, "Ok, we've got another task for you all to do.  We've actually got a location for two suspected Death Eaters.  Now, we're not going to actually send you in, since that would be a grave risk for you.  Instead, we'll use you as the location backup.  Location backup is the group that prevents any wizards or witches from leaving or entering the scene by physical means – broomstick, walking, etc.  It's the lowest risk assignment for aurors, but it's still an important role, since it prevents anyone from escaping or getting reinforcements.  Unless, of course, you'd rather hunt down some more bogarts…"

Everyone shouted "NO!" – it seemed everyone was anxious for an exciting job such as this.  Even Susan, Barb, and Jim seemed happy for the change in plans.

Al grinned and said, "Ok, we'll be doing same groups as on Monday.  Group 1 take the north perimeter.  Group 2 take south, group 3 take east, and Group 4 take west.  Your orders are simple.  Don't allow anyone, regardless of who it is, to enter the scene until you see the code signal.  This operation will have a code signal of blue sparks, followed by white sparks.  Everyone clear?"  There were several silent nods, and Harry's group followed behind Al.

Al again led the group to the broom storage room, and everyone grabbed a Nimbus again, and they took off.  Apparently all the groups were flying by broom as well, and Harry fell comfortably behind the slipstream of group 3.  Al led them in a long line circling the west part of a rundown house.  Harry was eager to enter the house, but that wasn't his job.

As soon as the groups were formed, Al left, and put Harry in charge.  "I'm going in.  Remember, blue then white is the all-clear signal," Al said, and then snuck towards the house.  Harry briefly wondered what would happen if the plan didn't go off correctly.

However, it looked like Al, Barb, Jim, and Susan entered the house without problem.  Harry grew somewhat bored, as they stood at position for 15 minutes.  15 minutes grew to a half an hour, and Harry was starting to get a little worried.

"Excuse me, we need to get in there."  Harry turned around, and saw the new voice came from a group of 3 people wearing ministry robes.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, "but our orders are to prevent anyone from entering the zone.  When the aurors inside give the go-ahead, you can enter."

"Listen kid," another said, "we need to enter.  Are you going to stop us?"

Harry looked at the group; he drew his wand and shouted, "Group form up!"  After several members turned around to meet the new threat, Harry said, "I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask you to leave."

The group of three did something Harry didn't expect – they laughed.  "Good job, Potter," one said, "but look behind you."

Harry didn't look, but Ron's voice called, "Harry!  It's the signal; blue, then white sparks."

Harry lowered his wand, and said, "You're free to enter now."

The four laughed again, and pulled down their hoods.  It was Al, Barb, and Susan, and apparently they had magically altered their voice!  "Good job, kid!" called Barb, who then patted him roughly on the back.

Harry shook his head, wondering how the three of them got on the other side of them, and asked, "Well, what happened inside the house?"

"Textbook operation," called another voice from behind him, and saw Jim smiling at him.  "The two in question are already at the ministry, being questioned."

Al said in his new voice, "Well, good job all around, but I think we should get you all back to Hogwarts now.  And I hope I see some of you as aurors when you get out!"

Jim whispered, "Nice voice, Al.  I can just see you singing in it, while prancing"

Al laughed, and led the large group back to the carriage which Fleur was waiting in.

"Well," asked Fleur, "did you enjoy yourselves?"  Most of the class grinned, and Harry relaxed for the ride back to Hogwarts and regular classes.

----

Please Review!


	13. The Grim Returns

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

Unfortunately, the mood at Hogwarts was not as relaxed when the returned after the week as it was with the Aurors.  Every few days a massive muggle killing would occur.  Other Auror divisions would arrive, only to find that the Death Eaters had already retreated.  And every few days, the horrors would appear in the Daily Prophet, where terrified students learned of the destruction on the outside world.  Finally, one daily prophet announced the ministry's acceptance of Voldemort's return.

"Why is he doing it?" Ron asked Harry, as the Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny sat down for lunch in the Great Hall.  "Why is You-Know-Who attacking all the muggle towns?"

Harry thought a minute, and softly said, "I'm not sure if he's doing it."

The other three turned around and faced him.  Ginny asked, "Well, if he's not doing it, then who is?"

Hermione beat Harry to answering, and softly said, "Malfoy."

Ron, Ginny and Hermione looked at Harry again, who slowly said, "Either one could be doing it.  Voldemort could be leading the attacks, to show he's not weak, and to intice some of Malfoy's followers back.  Or Lucius could be leading them, to try to get the ministry to acknowledge Voldemort's return."

Harry noticed that the others had looks of worry on their faces and said, "Listen, maybe we should talk about something else?"

"Divination," muttered Ron.

"You want to talk about Divination?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No, I've got an idea on how we can get back at Trelawney," Ron said.  Harry asked how, but Ron only gave him an evil smile.  _Uh oh, Harry thought, __Trelawney better run._

Needless to say, Harry's anticipation of Divination was at an all time high, although that didn't say much in itself.  Ron seemed anxious too, and both actually arrived several minutes early.

For some odd reason, Trelawney reverted back to the earliest methods of divination after Firenze left.  They had been doing bird entrails and fire omens all over again, and they were finally on Crystal Balls.  Trelawney did her best to instruct the class, but everyone detested her for her treatment of Firenze, and even Parvati and Lavender were a little cold towards their professor.

In the middle of class, Ron closed his eyes.  _Well, Harry thought, __I guess the act's about to start._

"I see… I see…" Ron intoned slowly, "the giant spectral dog… an omen for death."  Upon hearing the D-word, Trelawney made her way over to Harry and Ron's table.

"Did I hear death?" Trelawney asked, and Harry was disgusted at the slightly optimistic tone of her voice.

Ron, however, kept to the same slow, monotone voice and said, "I see the giant spectral dog… that haunts the graveyard… it will stalk you."  Harry was a little confused; how would a death omen help them get back at Trelawney?

"Oh dear," said Trelawney in her mistiest voice, "I am dreadfully sorry, Harry."

"I do not see Harry," Ron slowly said, "I… see…"  He opened his eyes suddenly, trembled a little, and licked his lips.  "I… er… saw…"

"What did you see?" Trelawney prodded.  By this time, everyone had given up the pretense of reading their crystal balls and was huddled around Harry, Ron, and Trelawney.

"I, saw, you," Ron said nervously, "Professor Trelawney."

"Nonsense," Trelawney laughed, "I haven't seen any sign in any forecast of the grim!"

Ron kept his straight face, and solemnly said, "You will, professor."  Even Trelawney had a hard time ignoring the finality in Ron's voice.  Harry was amazed as Trelawney actually trembled a little and said, "Ok, class is dismissed early today."

Harry and Ron walked back to the commons, and Harry finally asked, "What was that all about, Ron?"

Ron looked at him and said, "You didn't get it, did you?  I'm so disappointed in you, Harry."

Harry was even more confused and said, "What?  What didn't I get?"

Ron smiled and casually said, "Oh, nothing.  By the way, do you mind if I send a letter to your godfather?"

Harry suddenly stopped, smiled widely, and said, "Ron, you are evil!  You are so evil!"  Both of them ran as fast as they could to the Gryffindor commons; they had a favor to ask Sirius…

Ron and Harry looked over their note with glee:

_Sirius,_

_I've got a big favor to ask of you.  Our divination professor made an inexcusable comment about another person's physical deformity.  That person happened to be a teacher we admire, and was crushed by the comment._

_We were wondering if you'd help us get a little revenge.  She's deathly afraid of the figure of a grim, and we were wondering if Snuffles could pay a visit to Hogwarts.  I'd love to see you, as well.  All of us Gyrffindors miss you!_

_- Harry_

Harry and Ron read and reread the letter, laughing harder each time.  "Oh, I just can't wait!" chortled Ron.

"Calm down, Ron," Harry said, although he was still laughing as well.  "We have Quidditch to worry about tomorrow."  Ron nodded; they had almost forgotten about the first Quidditch game of the year, Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor.

Harry tossed in his sleep, prey to another dream from Voldemort.  He was in a pristine valley, and a small house was not too far in the distant.  Padma was there, except she looked a lot like Voldemort now.  Her eyes were fully red, her body was beginning to grow taller and thinner, and her skin was losing its healthy vibrancy it had before – now it was pallid and colorless.  Harry pondered that pretty soon it wouldn't be a question of whether to refer to it as Voldemort or Padma.  There would be no trace of Padma left.

Voldemort whirled around to face the group of death eaters behind him.  "WHAT!" he screamed.

The death eater had clearly just given his lord some bad news, and timidly repeated, "Two more have been eliminated by the aurors."

Voldemort angrily hissed, "Lucius!  He will pay!"

Another Death Eater spoke up and said, "Minister Fudge has also admitted that you have returned as well."

Surprisingly, Voldemort didn't attack the death eater, but only glowered angrily.  "That," he said, "was part of Malfoy's plan.  He wants to bring me to the attention of the world, so they will oppose me as well.  Idiot!  He doesn't realize that I cannot die, and that he will inevitably fall to my wrath."

The Death Eaters didn't have anything to say to this.  Eventually one asked, "What are we to do, my lord?"

"We will search," Voldemort hissed, "For the Obsidian Tome.  When we find that we will…"  Voldemort trailed off, and started to look around nervously.

"We will what?" asked a death eater.

"Be quiet!" yelled Voldemort, who was looking around.  Voldemort then closed his eyes, and Harry felt his dream slipping.  _NO! yelled Harry inside his mind, __He remembered I could sometimes see him in my dreams!  Voldemort's face became almost calm, and Harry silently woke up with no screaming and his scar twinging only slightly._

"BOLLOCKS!" Harry yelled, angry.

Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neville all immediately woke up and looked at Harry.  Harry grinned sheepishly.

Ron looked at him, half grumpy and half anxious, and said, "Does your scar hurt?"

Harry grimaced and merely said, "I'll tell you tomorrow."

Harry and Ron walked down to breakfast and sat down with Hermione and Ginny.  Harry was still a bit tired from the night before.  He was able to get back to sleep, unlike during the summer's dream, but he still didn't get as much sleep as he'd like and was worried a little about the Quidditch match.

Not being one to delay the inevitable, Ron immediately asked, "So, what about the nightmare?"

"Nightmare?" Ginny asked, alarmed.

Harry sighed and started, "Ok, first off, we were right.  Voldemort isn't doing those attacks.  They're Malfoy's doing – he's trying to get the ministry to admit Voldemort has returned."

"Then he's succeeded," Hermione said softly.

Harry nodded, and said, "There wasn't much in the dream.  Voldemort knows that I can see him when he's angry.  So sometimes he catches himself, and forces himself to become calm.  When that happens, my dream just slips away and I wake up."

The other three looked at him in silence.  Finally Ron said, "So Malfoy is winning?"

"No," Harry said abruptly, frowning, and then explained, "Lucius and his followers are fools.  Despite everything, Voldemort is immortal.  He'll most likely regain his power eventually, and I'm sure he won't be happy with Malfoy when he does."

Harry looked around and saw all the nervous faces at his proclamation of Voldemort's eventual return and said, "Don't get me wrong.  This is good.  It's decreased Voldemort's followers.  Although…" Harry trailed off.

Before any of the three could ask him what he meant, Harry continued in a quiet voice, "Although Voldemort talked about finding something called the Obsidian Tome."  None of the group had ever heard of it, even Hermione.

"You know what you have to do now, don't you Harry," Hermione said.

Harry laughed and said, "Yes.  I have to tell Dumbledore.  But do you three think you could look in the library for any reference to the Obsidian Tome?  I'd really like to know what Voldemort's trying to get his hands on."

Hermione, Ginny, and Ron nodded, and Harry felt a little better.  If there was anything in the library, Hermione would find it.  And she couldn't ask for better companions than the Weasleys.  Harry managed a weak grin, left the table and headed for the staff table.

"Can I help you, Harry?" Dumbledore kindly asked.

"Yes," Harry replied gravely, "I need to talk to you."

Harry left the room he had been talking to Dumbledore in, slightly irritated.  He had the definite impression that Dumbledore knew what the Obsidian Tome was, but wouldn't tell him.  He also looked lukewarm about the news in general, and Harry was actually feeling a little less optimistic after leaving.

----

Ok, ok, you were all right about Lucius being the one to attack the muggles.

Disappointment… I only got two people to review the last two chapters.  I'm so sad!  And the worst part is, I promised that I'd get it done my the 20th, so I can't even threaten to not post until I get a certain amount of reviews.  Argh.

Can I ask you this?  Was it something I wrote that you all didn't like?  If it is, tell me WHAT'S WRONG!  I can't make the story good if you don't tell me what you don't like!

Ariel: I swear, Ariel, you'll kill me one of these days.

Seifer: I think you're the first person I've ever heard express sympathy for Filch…  Glad you liked the trap.  It just seemed like Voldemort would plan something intricate like that.

Everyone – please review!


	14. Trelawney's Comeuppance

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

Needless to say, Harry's mind was not completely focused on Quidditch, and Ron noticed Harry's flagging attention with worry.

"Hey, Harry!  Snap out of it!  We need to beat Ravenclaw!" Ron whispered insistently.  Harry took a deep breath and nodded.

"And the first game of the season!" shouted the announcer, which Harry realized was Dennis Creevey, "is Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw!  Madame Hooch steps out and… the game begins!"

Harry cut through the air, but didn't get as good of a start as usual.  Still, he reached his perch above the game before the Ravenclaw seeker, who he absently noted was a 5th year he remembered from last year's ancient runes class.

Dean and Seamus seemed to being taking their first game with zeal, and already one Ravenclaw chaser was down due to injury.  Harry shook his head – he hoped the Ravenclaw would be alright – and resumed looking for the snitch.

However, he quickly grew exasperated.  Apparently the snitch was hiding, and doing a very good job of it.  Harry began to wonder whether the snitch was even let out at all, until he caught a flash of gold from the other side of the pitch.  Harry took off on his broom, and the opposing seeker followed closely behind.

When he got to the other side, Harry couldn't catch sight of the snitch again.  He turned around, and saw the other seeker was still coming towards him, since she couldn't traverse the pitch as fast as he could.  Harry smiled, as he realized he had a very nice advantage with his firebolt, but grew alarmed as the other seeker's face suddenly jerked to the right and became filled with determination.

Harry didn't think twice.  He zoomed to the right as well, and was close behind the other seeker, chasing after the now visible snitch.  The snitch dived; so did the Ravenclaw.  Harry didn't like his odds of being able to get around the other seeker during a dive, and he decided to stay level for an extra second.

As Harry dived, he saw the Ravenclaw close behind the snitch, behind him and many meters below.  Harry steeled himself – he was only going to get one shot at this.  Both the Ravenclaw and the snitch were flying level, and Harry was trying to intercept them going straight towards the ground!  Harry flew at the snitch at alarming speeds, and darted his hand – and barely managed to catch the snitch.

However, the Ravenclaw tailing the snitch didn't see what he was doing, and skimmed the diving Gryffindor.  Harry tried to pull up in his out of control broom, but only partially succeeded.  His broom tip hit the ground at an angle, and Harry was tossed off and rolled along the ground at incredible speeds.  When he finally stopped and took stock, he gladly noted that it only appeared to cause a few bruises and a small cut on his hand.

Harry looked up, and saw the Ravenclaw was in far worse shape.  Her broom was spiraling out of control, and she was dangling from the end of it, holding on by only her two hands.  Harry gasped as the broom spun upwards again and the seeker lost hold.  Harry threw his arm in front of him, and somehow stopped Ravenclaw's fall.  Harry trembled as he slowly let the seeker down to the ground, and finally collapsed due to exhaustion.

Harry shook off all the congratulations from the Quidditch match.  He was feeling a little guilty still about the win, since he used a strategy that could have easily hurt both himself and the other seeker.  Fortunately, a note delivered by Hedwig diverted his attention, and he beckoned Ron over.

"What is it Harry?" Ron asked.

Harry was too excited, and simply pointed to the parchment.

_Harry,_

_That Divination professor wouldn't happen to be Sibyll Trelawney, would it?  That old foolish woman has caused enough trouble for me alone – don't get me started about how Divination went for me at Hogwarts – and now she's mocking other professors based on physical deformities?_

_Consider her haunted – she won't go a day without seeing ol' Snuffles.  And I don't doubt that any son of James Potter would be able to deliver a perfect end to the prank…_

_Dumbledore has told me about your dreams.  I never would have seen this coming, but I'm sure we'll triumph over the situation._

_- Snuffles_

Ron looked like he wouldn't be able to contain himself, and excitedly said, "Divination… Monday… Trelawney… Grim…"

"Calm down, Ron," Harry said, laughing.

"Oh, this is good!" Ron said, finally speaking coherently.  Harry laughed; he too couldn't wait for Monday to arrive.

Sure enough, as Ron and Harry entered the North Tower, Trelawney looked in a slightly panicked state.  As she sat down at her poof, she even knocked over her teacup, spilling liquid all over the table.

"Let's do it now!" Ron urged quietly.

"Patience, Ron," Harry whispered back.  He then remarked in a slightly raised voice, "I went to see Nurse Pomfrey about my cuts after the Quidditch game.  She said I looked rather grim."  Trelawney overheard and accidently spilled her tea again.

Ron caught on and said, "Harry, you did what you had to.  Quidditch is a dog-eat-dog sport."  Harry smiled slightly as Trelawney involuntarily coughed.

"Still," Harry shot back, "don't you think it's a bad omen?"  Ron didn't say anything, barely able to keep his face passive, seeing as how Trelawney gasping loudly.  Harry continued, "I'm still haunted by the specter of the other seeker's out of control broom!"  Harry and Ron had to control their laughter as Trelawney's hands began to tremble slightly.

Harry imperceptibly nodded and mouthed, "Now."

Ron nodded and suddenly went rigid.  "The grim," he intoned in a monotone voice, "has haunted.  It will continued to haunt until… until…"

"Until…?" Trelawney burst anxiously.

Ron finished, "Until… the two teachers of the future combine again."  Ron then sat up and asked in a normal voice, "What happened?  Did… Did I just say something?  Why are you all looking at me?"

"Class dismissed!" Trelawney called.

"But class just started!" Lavender and Parvati complained.  Trelawney didn't even seem to hear them, and took off down the trapdoor.  Harry and Ron burst out laughing and began heading back to the Gryffindor commons.

  After settling the problem in Divination, Harry turned his attention back to his dream; he occupied his time by searching the library for any reference to the Obsidian Tome that Voldemort had mentioned.  His close friends were eager to help, but he doubted that anyone could have kept Miss Granger from the library, anyway.

Despite having Hermione on their side, the group couldn't find anything at all about the Obsidian Tome all week, not even a passing reference to it.  Harry even resorted to looking for synonyms, but still couldn't find anything about 'Black Book', 'Black Tome', 'Obsidian Book', 'Dark Book', or 'Dark Tome'.

They would look longer, but the week after they had the Charms co-op.  Harry was personally torn.  He really wanted to visit the Weasly Wizard Wheezes.  But he really wanted to finally find out what Voldemort was up to.

The first difference between this coop and the earlier one, Harry noticed, was that there was no fancy transportation to the charms co-op.  Since it was just at Hogsmeade, Flitwick insisted on walking.  15 minutes later, the Gryffindors finally entered the town, and made their way to the new shop.

"YES!" called Ron, "I've been looking forward to this all week!"  Harry snorted.  Obviously Ron wasn't torn between visiting the library and visiting the WWW shop.  Indeed, Ron looked positively giddy.

"OK, everyone!" called Fred, as the last Gryffindors entered the store, "We're going to keep this interesting.  Today, we're going to take you through the creation process.  The other four days we will be working on a project – each of you will have to try to create a new Weasley Wizard Wheezes creation.  And there will be prizes for anyone with a viable product."

"First step," George continued, "is the design.  Design is the most important step in creating a product like this.  You have to think creatively.  Fred and I find we do our best while imagining the Slytherins."

Fred coughed, "Snape."  Most of the Gryffindors laughed.  Harry remembered that Snape's respect for him since his 5th year didn't apply to the rest of Gryffindor.

George shot Fred a grin, and said, "We're going to take you through the creation of two new products we thought of: Cushion Crusher and Rhetorical Responder.  The Cushion Crusher is pretty simple.  It's just a simple ring, but when someone puts it on, it summons pillows from all around to surround the wearer.  So how would we do this?"

Hermione appeared like she was overlooking the fact she would be making prank objects and responded intellectually, "We would do a chain effect spell which would summons pillows whenever the condition of it being worn was met."

"Ah," George sighed, "we've missed you, Hermione!"

"That's absolutely correct," answered Fred, "Now, let's go to the work room and make a few."  Harry and the group went into another room, which he hadn't seen his first Hogsmeade trip.  He wondered why Fred and George didn't show it to him, until he remembered that they wanted to show him their 'red' products.

The charms class first watched as George made a simple brass ring become a cushion crusher, and then handed out several brass rings to each person.  After everyone got the hang of it, Fred said, "Ok, it looks like you've got the hang of this one.  Let's try the Rhetoric Responder.  It's a little bit trickier.  What we want it to do is charm a pendant, so if a rhetorical question is asked while it is worn, it answer the question.  Anything else, it does nothing.  Any ideas?"

The charms group thought a minute, and Harry actually beat Hermione by saying, "Couldn't we do a chain effect spell for this, too?  Just think of someone asking a rhetorical question?"

Fred grinned and said, "Close!"

"What about its answer?" George asked, "It has to answer the question.  How are you going to do that?"

However, no one could come up with the answer, so Fred said, "Ok, what we need to do is put a little of ourselves into the pendant.  That way, it will answer however we would, like we were part of the pendant."  Harry noticed that Fred seemed to be purposely avoiding mention of Tom Riddle's diary his second year.

"So," Hermione asked, "we think of someone asking a rhetorical question while we're putting a bit of ourselves into the ring?"

"Exactly!" beamed Fred and George.

"But," Hermione asked back, "how do we put a bit of ourselves into something?"  Harry sat forward, wanting to know the answer as well.  Despite the fact he got a diary from his godfather last year for him to fill, he had no real idea how to do it.

"Erm," George said, "I really don't know exactly.  You just sort of put your hand on it, and go calm.  I really can't explain it."

Fred looked lost as well, and said, "It's hard to put into words.  You just kind of relax and let yourself go."

Hermione looked a little skeptical, but took one of the pendants the twins started handing out.  Harry almost laughed at how easy it was to fill it with himself.  The twins were right – words couldn't describe how to do it – but it felt almost natural, and gave him a slightly giddy feeling in his head.

As Harry finally completed the charm, Fred said, "After you're done with the charm, you can go.  Just remember, the next four days, you'll be working on a new product.  You should probably think about what you're going to do."

As Harry was about to leave, George sidled up to him and softly said, "I've got a challenge for you, Harry.  I want you to develop a 'black' product."  Harry slowly grinned, and George patted him on the back.

As he left the shop, he heard Fred whisper, "I wonder what he'll come up with…"

----

Please Review!


	15. New Wheezes

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

When Harry came back to the Weasley's shop the next day, he found that everyone was very secretive about what they were developing.  Hermione in particular made sure that no one had any clue what she was doing.  All Harry knew was she was charming a sort of badge.  Ron appeared to be working on a fudge, and Harry had the suspicion that he must be doing a partial transfiguration, like the Canary Creames.

Harry sat by himself, wondering what he should do.  He couldn't come up with anything, and found his mind wandering.  _Well, he mused, __what great pranks have been done before?  There was the dungbomb attack, but Fred and George have already done that.  And every week it seemed like they turned some hapless Gryffindor first year into an animal with their various creames and toffees.  Heck, they've done just about every prank in Gryffindor.  If it wasn't for Hermione's stunt last year…_

"That's it!" Harry said out loud, and began working on his new idea; a two chambered item of pure chaos.

Harry couldn't wait until Friday, where they would all show off their ideas.  Fred and George seemed to sense his excitement, and decided to do his last.  Ron went first, and Harry was slightly disappointed.  It was a piece of chocolate which turned the eater into a Niffler.  While it was an impressive transfiguration, that type of prank had already been done before by the twins.  "I call it the Niffler Nougat!" Ron said, excitedly.  Fred and George simply nodded, and wrote something down on a piece of parchment.

Lavender and Parvati went second and third, although they appeared to have approached the task without enthusiasm.  Harry felt a little sorry for them, since jokes and pranks really weren't their thing to begin with.  Seamus showed off a little gadget which turned a person's skin different colors, and Harry was reminded of his fake duel with Terry Boot during the summer.

Dean Thomas demonstrated his product, which appeared to be a plain black cube.  Fred and George leaned forward and asked, "Ok Dean, what does the box do?"

Dean smiled and said, "It's an Irish Drinking Song Generator.  Simply say 'Skolion' and the subject you want.  For instance… 'Skolian Dumb Slytherins!'"

Immediately, the box grew a pair of lips and began singing:

_Oh… Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di_

_Oh, Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di_

_There was a house at Hogwarts_

_Which attracted all the creeps___

_Slytherin__ was its name and_

_Within imperfection sleeps_

_For not all at Hogwarts are smart_

_No, many daft people come_

_And are sorted into Slytherin_

_Because they're incredibly dumb!_

_Oh, Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di_

_Oh, Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di!_

The whole class was rolling on the shop floor laughing, and several people apparently had problems getting enough air.  When Fred and George finally stopped laughing, they asked, "So it'll do a song on anything?"

Dean beamed and nodded.  George grew a sly grin and asked, "Anything?"

The question had an undertone of extreme mischievousness, and Dean's smile slipped a little before he said, "Yes."

George whispered into Fred's ear; Fred immediately broke out in laughter.  Before anyone could ask what they were thinking, George called out with a snigger, "Skolion Ronnekins deep love for Hermione!"

"NNOOOO!!" shouted Ron, but the black box yet again created a pair of lips.

_Oh… Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di_

_Oh, Aye-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di-de-di_

Ron at this point was furiously shouting at the black box.  He had to be restrained and muffled by Lavender and Parvati, who obviously wanted to hear the song.  Hermione, Harry would swear, was trying not to smile.  In any case, the commotion caused by Ron was not loud enough to cover the song.

_Ronniekins__ was a timid man_

_Not a brave man, was he._

_He wouldn't tell Hermione_

_About his love you see._

_He waited more than a whole year_

_To tell her how he felt_

_That when he was around her_

_His insides would simply melt._

_Oh, Aye-de-…_

The rest of the ending couldn't be heard, though, over Ron's yells and the class's laughter.  After the commotion died down, at least ten minutes later, Hermione got up, second to last to show off her idea.  Harry was a little anxious, and noticed several other people sitting forward as well.  Hermione had been completely secretive, and nobody had the slightest inkling of what she had done.

"It's a truth translator!" she said happily.

Fred and George looked a little puzzled, and Fred finally asked, "It's a what?  What does it do?"

Hermione beamed and said, "It tells you what the other person really means.  Here, let me show you."  Hermione flicked a little switch on the front and looked expectantly at the twins.

George looked at his brother with a frown and said, "Well, I don't know if that's really that useful."

Hermione's badge immediately spoke up in George's voice, "_That's got to be the dumbest idea I've ever heard!"_

Hermione grinned, and said, "See?!"

Her badge decided to translate that to, "_What was so hard to understand about 'Truth-Translator', anyway?"_

Fred and George grinned a little, and Fred said, "Wow, that's actually pretty neat."

The badge shortly uttered, "_It's not as stupid as I thought!"_

Hermione smiled even wider and said, "I'm glad you saw the potential."

However, the badge shocked them all and said, "_I'm glad you're not both as dumb as you look."  Hermione blushed furiously, and angrily flicked off the gadget.  Fred and George supported each other while they laughed to the verge of tears._

When Fred and George came to, Harry said, "I think we should go outside for mine."  Harry cradled in his arms his contraption.  It had two spheres the size of coconuts, attached together with a cylinder.

"Well," Fred asked, excited, "what does it do?" as the group walked outside.

Harry explained, "The first chamber conjures a material.  Then the material is pumped into the second chamber, where it has Alteration Prevention spells placed on it.  Finally, the second chamber pumps the material into the outside environment.  But it does this really fast – about 500 liters a second."

George quickly asked, "What material?"

Harry grinned and said, "Just watch."  He then placed the apparatus on the ground and walked a large distance away from it.  Everyone was slightly confused, and Harry yelled, "Hermione's Wrath!"

Suddenly, the object began pouring bogies all around at incredible volumes.  Within a few seconds, everyone in the class besides Harry was covered to their knees.  As the material began to flow down the street about a meter high, Fred howled with laughter and yelled, "You better stop this, Harry, or we'll be run out of town!"

Harry laughed and yelled, "Lee Jordan pleads."  The flow of bogies from the object stopped, but half the town was coated in the substance.  A few shop owners were poking their heads out the windows, and Rosmerta began cursing at them from a block away.

Harry laughed again, and called, "Lee Jordan relents."  Hermione laughed as well, followed by the majority of the Gryffindors, as the Bogies suddenly disappeared.  Harry walked back over to the device, picked it up, and set it in Fred's arms.

The Weasley twins looked at the object in awe, and George finally said, "Alright!  You all did really well!  We'll make some decisions, and see if we can wrangle some points for Gryffindor for each design we keep!"

Everyone looked extremely happy, and the class made their way back to Hogwarts.

Ron groaned as they quartet made their way back to the library.  "I really missed this," he said sarcastically, "All that time we spent in Hogsmead, we could have been in here, reading old books!"

Hermione didn't seem to pick up on his sarcasm, and said, "You're absolutely right!"

Ron grimaced; Harry and Ginny simply laughed.  However, Hermione finally called out, "I FOUND IT!"

The other three quickly made their way, and Hermione thrust before them, "Ministry record keeping operations: 1600-1700"

Harry was confused, and asked, "What does the Obsidian Tome have to do with Ministry record keeping?"

Hermione turned to page 192 and pointed to the third paragraph.  Harry, Ginny, and Ron obligingly read it.

_March 13, 1683: Due to the dangers inherent in the artifact known as the Obsidian Tome, the ministry took measures to prevent its use ever again.  However, the Tome appeared to be protected with a powerful magic, and no wizard could destroy it.  Ministry officials were forced to take a more drastic approach.  The tome was hidden, and orders of any mention of the tome, even in passing, were to be erased.  Although the Obsidian Tome still exists, it is hoped that it will never be found._

"That's it?" cried Ron, obviously disappointed.

"No, it makes sense," Harry said.  "Obviously the Obsidian Tome is something very powerful or very evil, and the ministry felt they couldn't risk it falling into the wrong hands.  They hid it, deleted any record of its existence, and made sure they didn't put any information about where it was."

"But there's one obvious question then," Hermione responded, "How does Voldemort plan to find it?"

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny threw back suggestions all that week about how Voldemort planned to find the tome.  The only one that made any sense was Ron's guess that Voldemort must have some book that escaped the Ministry's attention.  It certainly seemed more likely than Harry's idea that Voldemort must have used a powerful time-turner.

Harry finally gave up thinking about it, and fell asleep.  He mentally gasped as Voldemort swam into his vision.  Harry looked closely, and noticed that Padma looked almost exactly like Voldemort.  The only signs that the figure was originally Pamda were a few locks of hair and a slight hint of color around the cheeks.  Harry finally noticed that Voldemort was angry, although it didn't surprise him since Harry's dreams always started by Voldemort's anger.

"You idiot!" Voldemort cried, "All records have been burned – of course you didn't find anything!  The Obsidian Tome is not meant to be found by a book!"  Harry growled in frustration as Voldemort closed his eyes and felt the dream slip a little.  _NO! screamed Harry, __Don't end it again.  I need to see what you're up to!_

However, Voldemort seemed to have something else in mind, and took a hesitant step to the right.  Harry grew confused, and Voldemort slowly started walking, his eyes still closed.  Harry watched, with what rapidly approached boredom – Voldemort was taking a slow stroll through the countryside.  However, Voldemort suddenly stopped and hissed, "It's directly below us."

_How?! Harry wondered, __How__ does Voldemort know?  A death eater asked, "How are we supposed to get it?"_

Harry reflected that it was a rather stupid question to ask, and Voldemort screamed, "Dig, you fool!"  Harry grew bored again, as the Death Eaters magically digged for a long time, creating a huge hole in the ground and eventually hit rock.

"My lord, we have hit rock.  What do you want us to do?"

Voldemort turned on the death eater and hissed, "Keep on digging.  It is not much further."

One of the death eaters in the hole was sweating, and called out, "There's nothing here!  Why are we doing this?!"

Voldemort quickly drew his wand and yelled, "_Crucio__!"  Harry trembled in pain; this was far worse than Voldemort's earlier attempt at the cruciatus curse within his dreams.  Harry suddenly awoke.  He did so without screaming, but his scar twitched in mild pain._

"How?" Harry whispered to himself.  _How did Voldemort know where to go?  He seemed to just sense the book.  Harry experimentally closed his eyes, and opened his mind.  As he was about to remark about how stupid this seemed, he felt a tiny prick in his mind.  He quickly redoubled his efforts, and could sense a faint darkness in the distance._

Harry breathed deep, and tried to mentally approach the anomaly.  He suddenly gasped in anguish; the darkness rushed towards him and it felt like he was being invaded by evil itself.  Harry shook himself, but he still felt cold deep within him.  Even after a long shower, Harry still felt a little unclean, but didn't have the faintest clue why.  In the commotion, however, it completely slipped his mind to talk to Dumbledore about it.

----

Alright!  I added the Irish Drinking song by request.  Oh, and, er, sorry about going off about reviews.  I'm a jerk.

Oh, something I noticed about FF.net and the chapters within stories.  You see, when you add a new chapter, ff.net has to go in and change the .HTML for every chapter in the story (to get the chapter selection pulldown menu correct).  Sometimes, it takes awhile for the changes to take place.  The best way around this is to change the '&chapter=x' number in the URL bar.  For instance, if chapter 12 isn't showing up in the pulldown menu, or the 'next chapter' button isn't there at chapter 11, try changing the URL.  NOTE: try going to another chapter besides the first.  That way, the '&chapter=x' section will show up.

Anyway, if you have problems with this, send me an e-mail at kevinericweber@yahoo.com

Suzanne: Hmmmm…. I might have to add a scene about McGonagall's breakdancing.  Maybe I could have Dumbledore show her a picture he was sent from the headmaster of Durmstrang…  You brought up a good point about Black (in a way).  I probably should've put a scene in there with Trelawney seeing Black, instead of just the start and conclusion.  Hmmm….

Kaelli: Same as above – I might have to add a scene later coming back to McGonagall's success on the dance floor.  Well, the mystery of the Tome is still trickling out – but don't worry, the tome's purpose will come clear soon.  Obviously Voldemort now has it, and it's not likely he's going to use it as bedtime reading…

AllAboutMe: Er, I magicked them there.  I don't know, ff.net can be finicky.

Ariel: hopefully the note above will help.  If all else fails, give me an e-mail address and I can e-mail the chapter to you.

Temporary Insanity: Yeah, I know I'm posting real fast.  But it was a choice between getting it done by the 20th, or putting in a 3 week gap during the climax of the story.  I decided to spare everyone.  About killing people in my story, I can't tell you!  Well, I can tell you this: one of the major canon students will die…

Seifer: Great, now I feel I let everyone down.  Everyone wanted to see Trelawney get what was coming to her, and I only put the start and end in.  Hmmm… maybe I should put a scene where Sirius tells Harry what exactly happened.

Garina: Well, you now know, well, still nothing about the Obsidian Tome.  Don't worry, it's coming…

Penda: Arg, another Grim/Snuffle request.  I'll look into my planned plot and see if I can throw it in somehow.  About Malfoy – I think he's doing remarkably well (except for the fact he's trying to get an immortal being killed).  The ministry doesn't believe he's guilty – he successfully claimed he was under the imperius curse.  Fudge even brought him up to the top box at the Goblet of Fire Quidditch World Cup.  Also, it doesn't matter how many of Lucius's followers are killed by aurors, as long as Voldemort is taken out by them, his power can only increase, as he would be the leader of every evil wizard in England.

Anyways, sorry I went off last posting.  Please Review!


	16. Unspeakable Boredom

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

"Potter, will you please pay attention!" yelled Vector.  Harry sighed; paying attention in classes had been getting a bit difficult, especially in Vector's class.  Not only was he preoccupied with Voldemort and the Obsidian Tome, but he was starting to find Vector's class boring.

Harry didn't know why, but he had a gift for Arithmancy.  It was remarkably similar to his muggle Mathematics class, although it featured much more advanced concepts.  Most of the students didn't seem to be able to coax themselves into believing the class was about numbers instead of spells, and Harry grew a small grin as Dean asked, "Wait, so 'Nox' plus 'Sonorus' equals 'Refrigero'?  That doesn't make any sense!"

Today they were learning about circle calculations, as Vector let the know that some spells were based off of angles, areas, and even pi, although Vector warned them that some of them were far to complex to be covered within 5 years of class.

Harry zoned off again, already having completed the assignment, and looked at the drawing the professor had charmed on the board.  It was a circle, with a triangle inside of it.  One vertex was in the center, and the other two were along the edges of the circle.

_Wait a minute, Harry thought, __if we make the triangle really thin, like a spoke on the bike, and fill the circle up with a bunch of them, we can figure out the circle's area.  He quickly drew a simple diagram on his parchment, and began calculating._

_Triangle Area: ½ radius * (radius * sin x)_

_Number of Triangles: 360 / x_

_Area = Triangle Area * Number of triangles_

_Area = 180 * radius * radius * (sin x) / x_

_(… as long as x is really small…)_

Harry looked on his chart of spell listings, and looked up the Radius, X and Sin X columns.  Sure enough, there were several matches.  The first was Stupefy/Lumos/Accio combination, and Harry quickly found a second – Elicio/Inflamare/Leviosa.

"Potter," yelled Vector, "what are you doing?"

Harry quickly hid his parchment and said, "Er, nothing!"  Harry was worried; this was the second time he hadn't been paying attention in class.

The explanation didn't please Vector, who yelled, "I'm tired of you, Potter!  You have detention!"

"I swear," Harry complained to Hermione, "she's actually worse than Snape used to be!"  Harry was still aching from detention, in which he had to mop the 3rd floor dungeon while being watched by the disgruntled groundskeeper, Filch.

Hermione looked at him oddly and said, "She's completely different than Professor Snape.  Besides, what were you working on during class yesterday?"

Harry frowned and said, "Nothing."

Hermione seemed to see through him and said, "Harry, when Professor Vector asks to know what you're working on, she's not doing it to get you in trouble.  She really wants to know.  Either you think something is important enough to interrupt her lessons, or you think her lessons need improvement.  And she really wants to know why.  She gave you detention because you wouldn't tell her what you were doing, not because you weren't paying attention."

Harry considered her words, and finally asked, "Hermione, do the spells Stupefy, Lumos, and Accio have a connection?"

Hermione looked at him oddly and said, "Yes.  They're something called Circle Chain Spells.  If done right, two people casting two of the spells can create a weak version of the third.  Vector talked a little bit about that last year, but said we wouldn't have to worry about knowing how exactly they were related.  Why do you ask?"

Harry shook his head, and simply muttered, "No reason; don't worry about it."

Hermione looked about ready to press the point, but was distracted by her owl bringing the daily prophet.  Harry watched as Hermione's face went from surprised, to a combination of disgust and glee.  Harry silently waited, although it was somewhat difficult since there were exclamations about the news all around the great hall.  Finally, Hermione handed the paper over, and Harry eagerly read the front page.

_He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Leads Failed Attack_

_You-Know-Who led another attack yesterday, this time on a branch of the Ministry of Magic.  Aurors arrived shortly after the attack started and began to push the Death Eaters back.  According to the aurors on scene, the Death Eaters received reinforcements in the form of countless skeletal warriors.  However, the undead soldiers proved to be a less than reliable force as they began slaying the death eaters they came to supplement._

_Aurors__ managed to contain the remaining skeletal warriors after they attacked the overwhelmed death eaters from behind.  The final count is 47 dead death eaters.  Amazing, among them are Lucius Malfoy and Peter Pettigrew, who was believed killed 17 years ago by Sirius Black.  Ministry officials are investigating how an upstanding citizen like Malfoy could secretly be a Death Eater, and how Sirius Black could be imprisoned for a murder he did not commit._

Harry finished the article, hardly believing his eyes.  After reading it again, Harry burst into a giant smile.  "Sirius!" Harry whooped, "Sirius will be freed now!"

Hermione smiled and added, "And a lot of Death Eaters won't be attacking muggles anymore."

Harry's smile slowly vanished, and he said, "What about Voldemort, though?  He's likely to get the remainder of Malfoy's group back, and it looks like he found a source of skeletal warriors."

Hermione frowned as well, and Ron and Ginny sat down beside them.  The two Weasley's silently read the paper, their facial expressions varying almost comically.  Finally Ron burst out saying, "Sirius is going to be freed!"

Harry was about to tell them that the same thing he said to Hermione, but decided that he didn't want to ruin their moods as well.  Besides, it was good news that his godfather would finally be exonerated.

Harry personally wondered how they were supposed to learn much when every few weeks they would have to take a week off for a co-op.  He also wondered what they could possibly be doing for divination.  Harry knew that the divination co-op was about to start, but still Trelawney hadn't said a word about it.

As Ron and Harry walked in that Monday, Trelawney was standing and holding a small frail coat over herself.  Harry realized that he had never seen the old woman outside the castle.  However, both grew excited when they saw Firenze standing towards the other end of the classroom.

"Firenze!" Harry cried, and ran over to the centaur.  The other students filing in were excited as well, and before the centaur knew it, he was surrounded by the students welcoming him back.

"Students, we need to go," Trelawney spoke, "The ministry will be expecting us soon."  Harry turned around from Firenze and thought _The__ ministry?  What could we be doing at the ministry for divination?_

Firneze pulled Ron and Harry back as everyone started to file out of the class.  "I really appreciate what you two did, although it is rather crude to distort divination like you did."

Ron and Harry gaped at Firenze, and Ron stammered, "How did you know about our Grim prediction?"

Harry smiled and swatted Ron.  "Ron, you prat!  He's a centaur!  He probably knew what we were going to do be we actually did it."

Firenze smiled and said, "Well, you two should probably catch up with your group."  Harry and Ron waved goodbye, and hurried to catch up with the rest of the divination class.

Harry was disappointed; they weren't going to be taking an interesting way to get to the ministry, and were simply using Floo powder.  Harry had hoped that he'd get to see another exotic form of transport.  Student after student would simply call "Ministry of Magic, Room 1643" and disappear into the flames.  Harry was last, and when he emerged, he came to in a sterile white room, filled with black robed students and white robed ministry workers, although Harry didn't recognize the branch.

"Alpha Gamma Sigma," called an authoritative voice from behind.  Harry turned around, and saw several wizards facing the new group, wands drawn.  Harry saw an odd emblem on their robes, which were also white, but with dark blue trim.

Trelawney spoke up without a hint of mistiness, "Epsilon Delta Epsilon."  Harry grew even more confused at what was going on, but he wasn't alone.  The entire class seemed bewildered, and most were shooting glances between the armed wizards and their professor.

However, Trelawney's message must have made sense to the white and blue robed wizards surrounding them.  After they slowly put their wands away, another wizard stepped out from behind them.  He also wore the same emblem as the others, but his robes were white and red, and he authoritatively said, "Welcome to the Department of Mysteries.  I am Security Captain Renard Joss, and I'm here to escort you to the Seer Department."

Harry heard loud whispers from the students and knew why.  The Department of Mysteries was a heavily shrouded department, and few got to even enter the building.  Harry fell in line with the rest of the students walking along a plain white corridor, and noted that the security guards were surrounding them, obviously making sure that no one would wander off.  Harry couldn't help but wonder what the punishment was for seeing something in here that you weren't supposed to.

Renard finally stopped, and opened a magically sealed door.  "This," he announced, "is the Seer Department.  You are not authorized to leave this department until 5:00.  I will arrive then to escort you back to room 1643."  

The students all meekly stepped in, to be greeted by another red and white robed security officer.  "Hi!  My name is Sean Jones.  So, how do you like seeing what it's like to be an unspeakable?" he called, and Harry sighed with relief as the new guard seemed much more personable than the last.

The students still seemed too overwhelmed to say anything, and Sean laughed, "Don't worry about Joss.  You won't have any problems, as long as you don't stray off.  Anyway, we're going to show you what it's like to be a Seer within the Department of Mysteries.  It's very important work, and it helps the Ministry by giving them a little heads-up on what they're going to face.  So, will you all follow me?"

The students all dutifully followed the new officer, and Harry noted that the Seer Department seemed a little homelier than the stuffy lobby.  On the downside, it smelled a little like Trelawney's classroom.  As they made their way down yet another corridor they passed by two white robed wizards.  Harry heard one say, "How are the preparations for the Sphere of Madness?"

However, the other immediately froze, and said urgently, "We have visitors!"

Harry turned his head and watched the two, intrigued by what was said.  The first wizard didn't pick up, though, and said, "What?  No, I'm talking about the storage of the sphere."

The other fiercly said, "SHUT UP!" and looked pointedly at Harry.  By now the class noticed that Harry was lagging a little behind in the corridor, and stopped as well.

Finally, the outspoken wizard realized his mistake and whispered, "What do you reckon?  Memory charm?"

Harry was beginning to worry – he was obviously close to being in trouble with one of the most secretive branches of the ministry.  The second wizard stared at Harry for a long minute, and finally said, "No.  There's no need – the name of the object itself is not important, and will not tell anyone anything."  Harry let out a relieved sigh as the two wizards continued on their way, and he hurriedly caught up with the group.

Unfortunately, the rest of the week was not nearly as exciting.  Instead of getting a tour, which Harry knew would be quite impossible, they were simply conducted into an empty room filled with Crystal Balls, Tarot Cards, and other various divination tools.  Besides Sean checking up with them every once in awhile, Trelawney was simply instructing them; it was uncomfortably close to the usual Divination classes back up at Hogwarts.  Or at least the usual Divination classes before Firenze arrived.

"I don't know how much more of this I can stand," Ron whispered to Harry, as Trelawney was yet again talking about divination with bird entrails.

"I hear you," Harry whispered.  He briefly considered telling Ron about the Sphere of Madness, but the mysterious wizards was correct; he didn't know anything about it, so there wouldn't be much to tell.  Besides, it appeared to be sensitive information and he might be in trouble if he started telling people what he overheard.

Unfortunately, skipping out of class was not an option, since they were required to stay in their confined area, lest they accidentally hear something secret.  Harry, Ron, and most of the rest of the class simply had to bear their way through the week, which Harry was willing to swear was longer than any before, even with the Dursleys.  Finally, Harry and Ron left the ministry on Friday, escorted as always Renard Joss until they all left through the lobby fire by Floo powder.

----

Please Review!


	17. The Sacrifice

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

Another problem with the divination coop, besides the back that it bored most the Gryffindors silly, was it left little time to prepare for the second Quidditch game: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff.  They arrived back at Hogwarts late Friday afternoon, and the match was early Sunday afternoon.

Harry could tell the team was slightly out of practice.  While he managed to find the snitch within a reasonable time, the chasers seemed slightly out of sync.  Several times Ron would pass the quaffle to Jill Stephans, only to have her look back to catch it after it had passed her by.  Natalie McDonald seemed to be doing ok, except she looked a little out of practice at flying itself, and wasn't pushing her broom as hard as she could.  Dean and Seamus were doing well, but Harry was getting annoyed at them.  They appeared to give up hitting bludgers at the chasers and went after more agile game: him.  While it helped him prepare for the game, it was really irritating to have to dodge and swerve every ten seconds.

The Gryffindor team wasn't completely ready by Sunday.  Or at least ready by Ron's standards – Harry felt sure they would do fine.  Ron couldn't go an hour without mentioning how good of a team Ernie Macmillan had put together.  Harry would've remarked how Ron was turning into Oliver Wood, but he realized that he was the only one who played while Oliver was captain.

"Ok men," Ron called.

"And women!" shouted Ginny.  Harry had an odd sense of déjà vu.

"And women," Ron conceded, "This is the big one."  Harry's face split into a grin, finally remembering where he had heard this before.

Ron looked oddly at Harry, and repeated, "The big one.  The one we've all been waiting for."  Harry broke into laughter, and the rest of the team just looked at him, not knowing what he was laughing.

"Are you ready to take the field?"  Ron turned around, and saw Madame Hooch had been waiting for them.

Ron hesitantly said, "Give us a couple of seconds.  Our seeker is, er…"  Ron apparently didn't know how to describe Harry's sudden laughing fit, and smacked him hard on the shoulder.

Harry straightened up, but chuckled, "Wood."

Ron looked at him oddly, and the Gryffindors stepped out onto the field.  "And for the 4th game of the season," called Dennis Creevey's magically amplified voice, "Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, in what promises to be an exciting match.  And Madame Hooch steps out on the field, and THE GAME BEGINS!"

Harry tore off, and decided to throw off the opposition.  He did something rarely done by seekers, and looped the keeper.  The opposing keeper stared off at him oddly, and didn't notice in time to stop Ron from scoring the first goal of the game.

"AND GRYFFINDOR SCORES!" boomed Dennis Creevey.  Harry was amazed – he had never heard the mousey boy yell that loud before.  Harry looked over at the opposing seeker, who Ernie introduced to him as Lena Morgan, a second year.  He knew it wasn't wise to underestimate an opposing team, but Lena didn't look like she was going to be much of a problem.  She kept looking at him with something between admiration and fear.  Harry remembered yet again that he was a legend in the wizarding world, and probably a small legend within the Hogwarts Quidditch community; a new seeker would be bound to be intimidated playing against him.

However, it didn't matter how intimidated Lena was of him if he didn't catch the snitch either, and so far the snitch was doing a better than average job of hiding from him.  Harry snorted as Ron made yet another goal and the score "180-10" was announced.

Finally, a goldish glimmer caught Harry's eyes, and he tore up the field towards it, Lean close behind.  The snitch dived; so did Harry.  However, when Harry chanced a look behind him, he noticed Lena wasn't diving.  She wasn't even moving; she was just watching him.

Harry abandoned the snitch and flew up to her, slightly angry.  "What do you think you're doing, Lena?"

Lena looked at him and nervously said, "I was… well, you're Harry Potter, and you're flying a Firebolt!  And you had a head start, and it didn't matter whether I caught the snitch or not, your team would still win."

"You… gave up?" Harry asked incredulously.  After Lena gave a small nod, Harry furiously said, "That's the most foolish thing I've heard!  Why do you think I'm any better than you?"

"You're…" Lena stammered, "Well… You're the boy-who-lived."

"Exactly!" Harry said, "But I didn't live because I gave up!  If I ever see you throw a game again…"  Harry didn't finish his statement, but didn't need to, seeing as how Lena gulped when he trailed off.

Harry then caught sight of the snitch again, although it was much closer, and directly behind Lena.  Harry immediately took off, and Lena followed, and Harry noted she was much more serious about her efforts this time.  However, despite renewed efforts on Lena's part, Harry didn't expect what she did next.  As Seamus flew nearby going the opposite direction after a bludger, Lena rammed Harry.  Harry gasped as he was suddenly pushed into Finnigan's flight path.  Harry swerved hard, completely forgetting the snitch for the moment.  Seamus spiraled out of control, and eventually pulled out before he hit the ground.  Harry lost grip of the broomstick, and fell, although he was only a few meters off the ground at that point.  Harry glared as Lena was chasing the snitch alone, almost ready to catch it.  He ran to his broomstick, which had fallen several meters away, while a good portion of the crowd booed Lena's aggressive tactics.  Harry took to the air, and crosscut Lena's path, throwing her temporarily off the trail as well.  He swerved back, and found that the two were again on the trail of the snitch.

However, Harry second guessed the opposing seeker, and abruptly dived when she tried to ram him again.  Lena gasped as she missed Harry and was flying at an odd angle away from the snitch.  Harry quickly rose, and finally caught the snitch.

"Gryffindor wins!" cried Dennis, "360-20!"

Harry landed, and shook Lena's hand.  Lena blushed, and Harry said, "Thank you, Lena!  Wasn't that a lot better than just letting me catch it?  And you came really close to catching it yourself!"  Lena jerkily nodded, and took back off to the castle with her teammates.

The party for the Quidditch victory lasted well into the night.  Not only did they win, but they won with an enormous margin.  Ron capped it off by loudly announcing the Quidditch standings, "All right, everyone!  Now, we won our first game 210-50, and this game by 360-20.  Now, the only games left in the season are Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.  Slytherin lost against Ravenclaw, and didn't win by a large margin against Hufflepuff.  So right now we're in the lead by 270 points from any of the other teams!"  At his announcement, the Gryffindor commons again burst with cheering.  Harry smiled – apparently the final game probably wouldn't even matter.

Harry finally made his way to bed at 1:30 in the morning, and was worried about getting enough sleep for his early morning Arithmancy class the next day.  _No, Harry thought glumly, __my Arithmancy class today.  It's past midnight._

However, as Harry quickly made his way into sleep, a night landscape filled his mind.  Harry looked around, and saw saw Voldemort, glowering angrily over a group of Death Eaters, who surprisingly were not masked.  Harry noticed that Draco Malfoy was one of them, and he also noticed that Voldemort appeared exactly as he did at the end of the third task – not a trace of Padma remained.

"Well," Voldemort hissed, "I see that you finally decided to return.  Of course you do this after your leader perished by my minions.  Each of you will have to pay the price for your disloyalty."  Each of the unmasked death eaters was then bound by one of Voldemort's group.  A few briefly struggled, but Voldemort ended that with only the silent threat of his wand.

Voldemort continued, almost casually, and said, "I've been reading the Obsidian Tome.  Interesting magic, this necromancy.  Did you know, for instance, that the strength of the creation doesn't depend so much on the power of the necromancer, but the age of the corpse?  Freshly dead, the corpse is still capable of rudimentary magic.  A few weeks, and it still makes a strong warrior.  Several years, and it can barely hold a sword.  I guess this explains why the ministry was able to defeat my legion so quickly."

All 17 of the bound death eaters trembled.  Voldemort didn't appear to notice, and hissed, "Of course, the solution to creating stronger animations is simple – you perform the work on younger corpses.  And by far, the easiest way to assure a fresh body is to be the one who actually kills the person in the first place."

Harry was mortified – Voldemort surely couldn't be planning…  Several of the tied up traitors figured out what was going on and struggled ineffectually against their bonds.  Voldemort smiled, and pulled out the same ceremonial dagger he had used at the Patil residence.

Voldemort slowly and menacingly made his way to the first of Lucius' followers, who Harry saw was Draco Malfoy.  _He can't!  Harry's mind screamed, __He can't!  As Voldemort brought the blade up high above Malfoy's chest, Harry's mind was still desperately insisting, __He can't!  Voldemort brought the blade down, and right before the blade could penetrate Draco, Harry woke up screaming._

----

This is the main reason the story is PG.  I don't think I could have imagery like this and call it G…

Well, you know know pretty much everything about the Tome.

AllAboutMe: Thanks!

Serayane: Well, it wouldn't matter much if Padma was freed.  Keep in mind, she did voluntarily turn to evil.

Garina: I'm looking for a spot in my outline where I could get him in.  Unfortunately, I'm really near the end of the story, so it's not looking too good.

Kim: Actually, I said a canon student.  And yes, Draco is now pretty much dead.

Seifer: Thanks!

Temporary Insanity: I think you just came up with the most humorous way to bump of Voldemort.  About the force – it's really not that bad.  Some rough calculations on my part showed an exit speed of 14 m/s (30 miles/hour) if half the second chamber were open to the outside.  About the energy – it's Harry spell.  What can I say :)

**Please review!**


	18. Horrible Realizations

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

His screams immediately woke up Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neville.  Ron quickly fumbled for his wand and cried, "_Mutus__!"  After telling Dean, Seamus and Neville to go back to sleep, Ron went over and stepped inside the muting sphere.  Harry wasn't screaming anymore, but was gasping like a fish out of water._

"It's ok, Harry," Ron said softly, putting his hand on Harry shoulder.  Harry looked up at him, and Ron continued, "You should probably try to get some sleep – you've got class in three hours."

Harry nodded jerkily, and lay back down in his bed, panting.  However, he couldn't get the image of Voldemort with his knife in the air, poised to ritually kill the death eaters.  Finally, at 6:30, Harry gave up on sleep and got out of bed.  He was alarmed; he was still shaking a little.  He took a long hot shower, and mindlessly got ready for his Arithmancy class, aware he was getting ready almost an hour early.

Harry silently sat down in one of the chairs by the fire.  "Another nightmare, Harry?" came a soft voice beside him.  He turned and saw Ginny was already down in the commons and he hadn't noticed.

Harry slowly nodded, and Ginny quietly asked, "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Harry immediately said, "No."

This threw Ginny for a moment.  "No?" she asked finally.

"No." Harry replied again, and then added, "I wish I hadn't seen it, and I wouldn't want to put what I saw into your head as well."

"Harry," Ginny softly pleaded, "you'll feel better if you tell someone."

"That may be true," Harry quietly replied, "but you'd feel worse.  And I'm not going to do that to you."  Harry saw the somewhat hurt expression on Ginny's face, and added, "I'll tell you later about what Voldemort is up to.  But about what he did… I've… I've got to talk to Dumbledore."

Harry felt Ginny's eyes on him as he left the common room to seek out the headmaster.  He felt sorry about not telling her, but he wouldn't want to hoist that terrible image onto anyone.  _Voldemort__, his arm held high; the dagger poised to strike…_

Harry shuddered, and walked faster.  He finally came to the Stone Gargoyle, and realized he had no clue what the password was.  "Lemon drop…Canary Creame, Fizzing Whizbee, er, Niffler Nougat… no wait, that was Ron's candy, er…"

However, before Harry could think of any more sweets, the Gargoyle came to life and Dumbledore stepped out.  "Good morning, Harry," Dumbledore said, "I heard your attempts to enter my office; I trust you have a reason…" However, the headmaster trailed off as he saw the look within Harry's eyes.  "Ah, yes," Dumbledore said softly.

Dumbledore led them into the office, and Harry had a seat.  "What happened?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

Harry gathered himself and said, "I had another dream.  Malfoy's followers returned, and Voldemort had them tied up.  He started speaking about Necromancy, and how corpses that had just died made more powerful creatures.  And he… he pulled out a knife and was about to ritually kill one of them as I woke up."

Dumbledore's hand involuntarily twitched, and he slowly said, "This is grave news.  When Voldemort killed the death eaters and reanimated them, they lost a lot of their raw magical ability.  But the ministry needs to know that Voldemort now has a new power."  Dumbledore looked up, and said, "Thank you Harry.  I will have to think about this for awhile.  I believe you should get your books.  Your arithmancy class begins in 15 minutes."

Harry exited the chamber and headed back the Gryffindor tower.  By the time he got there, everyone else that had class at 8:00 had left already, and those that didn't were still sleeping.  He quickly grabbed his bag and ran down to his class – he didn't want to be late and anger Professor Vector again.

Fortunately, he arrived barely in time and quickly found his seat next to Hermione's.  Vector began the class, but Harry had other things to worry about than trigonometric identities.  He pulled out his parchment and began working on the assignment, but his mind was turning over what Dumbledore had told him.  _His new power?  Harry thought, __well that made sense – he could perform necromancy.  But Dumbledore also said that the procedure robbed the victim of most of their magical power.  So why would Voldemort even bother doing it?_

Harry frowned as he thought _That's__ right!  That legion of undead soldiers that attacked the ministry, surely they couldn't all have been evil when they were alive.  So necromancy must take away the victim's will.  So they would all be completely loyal to Voldemort.  It made sense, Harry had to admit, that Voldemort would wish to perform the ceremony on the traitors that followed Malfoy._

However, this left an even bigger problem.  If Voldemort could force the undead to do whatever he wanted, he didn't need to kill evil death eaters.  He could kill decent witches and wizards and perform the ceremony on them, effectively turning them over to his side!

Harry trembled a little, and somewhat wished he hadn't thought everything through.  He could have remained blissful about the consequences of Voldemort's study of the Obsidian Tome.  Harry quietly drew his wand and cast a weak cheering charm on himself.  He finally finished his assignment when the lack of sleep overtook him.  Not having the horrible images of Voldemort's escapade on his mind, he quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

"Uh oh," called a Hufflepuff from a short distance away, "Harry's really going to get it from Vector now."  Sure enough, the professor noticed that Harry had dozed off, and walked towards him.  She managed to pry the parchment from his grip and read it over.

"No, Harry can sleep.  I assume he's got a good reason for dozing off in class, and he's already completed the assignment."  Vector put the parchment down by Harry, and Hermione gasped.  "Harry's done with the assignment already?" she asked herself, amazed.  She was still only half of the way done!

Hermione managed to finish in class as well, although there were only a few minutes left of class.  Hermione looked around, and saw the rest of the class, minus herself and Harry, were still working on it.  She glanced at Harry, and guiltily picked up his parchment to look at it.  Not only was the assignment complete, but every answer appeared to be correct.  She put his parchment down, shook him lightly, and said, "Class is almost over, Harry."

Harry woke up and debated whether to put another weak cheering charm on himself.  He decided against it, and looked at Hermione, whose face was unreadable.  "Is something the matter, Hermione?"  Hermione shook her head no, and the two made their way back to the Gryffindor commons.

Several days later, Harry had come to grips with the horrid imagery in his dream.  However, the horror came back in full force as Hermione casually handed him the daily Prophet on Thursday.

Harry gulped and read the article.

_He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Attacks Again_

_You-Know-Who recently led an attack on Salisbury.  However, the attack was extremely brief, and the aurors who arrived shortly on scene almost immediately chased the Death Eaters away.  There were no casualties, and the only people missing after the attack are Mike and Cheryll O'Connor, two wizards which graduated from Hogwarts less than 10 years ago…_

Harry shook a little as he finished.  He knew that the O'Connors weren't missing.  They were the target.  Voldemort was looking to increase his numbers, and abducted the two.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Ginny asked, alarmed at Harry's facial expression.

"Harry," Hermione chimed in, "Voldemort's been killing people for years.  And you don't even know those two were killed – they're just missing."

Harry didn't say anything and slowly looked over at the head table.  Dumbledore looked back at Harry and quietly nodded.  So Dumbledore concurred – the two were likely Voldemort's minions now, and Harry felt his worst fears come alive.

Harry turned to Ron, Ginny, and Hermione and said, "I need to talk to you three, alone."

"You can't say it here?" Hermione asked.

Harry looked at Seamus, Dean, Lavender, and Neville who were also sitting next to the group.  None of them appeared to be paying attention, but Harry still insisted, "No, we need to talk alone.  Let's go to the commons."

Hermione, Ron, and Ginny silently followed Harry back up to the Gryffindor tower.  They knew that whatever he had to say was very important, if he didn't want anyone to overhear it.  As soon as they all sat, Harry said, "Voldemort found the Obsidian Tome.  It's a book detailing how to perform necromancy."

Everyone sat in silence, and a few seconds later Hermione gasped, "The O'Connors!"

Harry sadly nodded.  It appeared that Ron and Ginny hadn't worked out what was going on yet, and Harry explained, "Voldemort is killing wizards now, to reanimate their bodies to do his bidding."

Ron and Ginny looked shocked, but Ron managed to say calmly, "You don't know that.  Like Hermione said in the Great Hall, they could just be missing.  I mean, no one has seen Voldemort kill anyone for this, have they?"

Harry looked down at his knees in sorrow.  "The nightmare," Ginny realized and went to comfort Harry.  Ron and Hermione gasped, and neither could think of anything to say.

----

First thing, I got several complaints about math.  Ok, I realize a lot of people hate it.  But Arithmancy is defined as 'Divination by Numbers'.  Obviously it has to do something with mathematics (even if I chose 'divination' to mean telling how spells will interact).  Oh well, I apologize if I thrust something you hate within fantasy.  There's only going to be one more Arithmancy calculation scene – and it's needed to er… well, you'll find out.  Hehe…

Second, I LOVE YOU ALL!  I never would have imagined getting that many reviews over the last two chapters.

Third, we're nearing the home-stretch.  This is the 5th to last chapter, so I decided to wait, and write/post the last 4 in pairs (so this is the only chapter today)

Kaelli: Of course the Sphere of Madness is relevant!  Hehe, you won't find out how until the last two chapters.  And I guess you got your wish in a way – you know where Wormtail and Lucius are at…

You said something about the Black Cauldron being parallel to my story.  I've never heard of it before, but I went onto the internet and found a brief summary of it.  It looks like it does have the same underlying idea behind it – the object that can create undead forces – but the entire plot seems different.

However, I don't think I'd feel too guilty about writing this story, even if I had seen the movie, because the idea of Necromancy within fantasy is commonplace.  I'd go so far to say the idea is more of an archetype anymore.

Temporary Insanity: No red herrings here.  In fact, if I do write a sequel to this, it will probably be titled: Harry Potter and the Sphere of Madness.

Seifer:  You know, whenever I read fanfiction, it seems everyone frees Sirius.  Some go as far as to free him as soon as Harry gets back to the Dursleys – apparently some people don't like writing Harry back with his relatives.  So I purposely avoided freeing the man.  Call me callous.  But, I couldn't let the trilogy be completed and STILL have him innocently hunted by the ministry.

JadedDragon: Draco fan?  Let me guess – you're a fan of the stories where Draco turns out to be good, and reaches salvation?  Even becomes friends with Harry?  Haha, not in my story!  And I don't mean to scare you, but it gets worse…

Garina: Another Draco fan?  Er…

Beefywpac: You like Draco, too?  Um…

Penda: Uh… I'm starting to feel outnumbered here.  Am I going to have a mob come after me if I have Draco truly die?  Please, don't hurt me!  He's still alive, kind of…

Sherman: Thanks!

Alison: You're absolutely right.  This will get grisly.

Ariel: I'm sorry.  But, hey, you'll only to deal with it one more time.

AllAboutMe: I'm truly sorry!  Well, not really.  But like I said before, one more time…


	19. Numerology, Arithmancy, and Harry

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

Every few days, news would pop up in the Daily Prophet about similar hit and run attacks.  And every time, a handful of wizards would turn up missing.  Each time the news came, the four would look nervously at each other.

After yet another attack, Hermione nervously said, "That's a total of 23 so far."

Harry grimaced but said, "Let's not worry about this.  Dumbledore has told the ministry what's going on – it's their job to figure out what to do."

Ron seemed to catch on to Harry's desire to talk about something else and said, "Are you ready for the final game?  We've only got a little over a week left before we play Slytherin for the cup!"

Ginny smiled a little and asked, "How did the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff game go?"

Ron smiled.  "Great!" he said, "Ravenclaw won, but they only have 10 more points than us.  Unless we don't score at all, we've got them beat!  And Slytherin had even fewer points than Ravenclaw before their match – we'll have to lose by over 300 points to lose the cup!"

Harry chuckled, seeing no possible way the Slytherin team could defeat them that badly.  He knew he would catch the snitch before they scored 15 goals at all, let alone scored 15 more than the Gryffindor team.  Harry even doubted the ability of the Slytherins to match the Gryffindor chasers, who were every bit as good the Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson team from years back.

"Are you ready for Arithmancy, Harry?" Hermione asked, already lifting her book bag from the table to head for class.

Harry groaned; Ron smiled and asked, "What's the matter, Harry?  Realize you shouldn't have signed up for that horrid class?"

Hermione impatiently said, "Arithmancy isn't horrid, Ron."

Harry grimaced.  "No," he admitted, "but Professor Vector can be.  Ron laughed as Hermione silently fumed at Harry insulting one of her favorite professors.

"Smart, Harry," Ron chuckled, "Get on Hermione's nerves right before you sit with her for an hour.  Real smart.  And I can tell you firsthand that…" He wisely trailed off after seeing the nasty look Hermione shot him, and coughed nervously.

Harry laughed at the two of them and mischievously called out, "Well, I'm off to Arithmancy.  I'm a good student, and don't show up late," and half ran out of the hall before Hermione could catch him.

"I half ran out of the hall for this?" Harry muttered.  They were spending another lecture on Fibonacci sequences, and Vector had gone so far as to provide a table listing the most common sequences out to 30 numbers.  Not only was the class mostly review, but Harry had listened to lectures about Fibonacci numbers is over ten classes last year, while he was guarding the classes from Voldemort's spirit.

_Wait a minute, Harry thought, noticing something about the sequences.  The first numbers were relatively unpredictable.  But towards the end of the thirty listed numbers, each number went up by a percent.  Harry used his class Arithmancy calculator, and saw that it was increasing by roughly 60% each step.  Harry quickly wrote down on his parchment._

_C = A + B_

_B = A * x   :   x = factor it increases by_

_C = B * x_

_A * x * x = A + A * x_

_x__ * x = 1 + x_

_x__ * x – x – 1 =  0_

Harry looked up the x * x and x columns, and found sets of matches.  The first match, Expelliarmus and Alohamora didn't mean anything to him.  But the second, Furnunculus and Densaugeo, immediately stood out.  Those were the spells that Draco Malfoy and he had cast during a duel their 4th year.  And the spells bounced off each other – something which Harry had never seen before or after that incident.

"Potter, what are you doing?" came the shrill voice of Vector, "Are you not paying attention?"

Harry looked about ready to hide the parchment as he did before, but remembered Hermione's words about Vector.  He hesitantly asked, "I was just wondering, do the spells Expelliarmus and Alohamora have any connection?"

Vector's face immediately became puzzled.  "Yes," she said slowly, "They're Golden Mean reflectors.  If those two spell's beams come in contact, they'll deflect off each other.  Why did you ask that?"

Harry timidly handed the professor his parchment, which contained his brief calculations.  Vector's mouth dropped a little, and she said, "Class, unless you are done with your assignments, I'd suggest you resume working on them."  The rest of the students looked back down and resumed working on their homework, instead of looking at Harry.  The professor walked over to Harry and whispered, "After class, I'd like to see you down in my office."  Harry was worried, until he saw that the professor actually had a smile on her face – the first that he had seen on her face that had been directed towards him.

Harry followed the Arithmancy witch after class to her office.  Harry found what each professor decorated their office with interesting.  Dumbledore had all sorts of odd magical devices and portraits of past headmasters.  McGonagall had a rather spartan office (which Harry felt reflected something about her).  Snape had nasty potions and various chemical ingredients.  Fleur had books and dark arts detectors.  Vector, it seemed, had a deep fascination with numbers.  One entire wall was covered in a large table of numbers, although Harry hadn't a clue what it represented.  Another wall had the magical equivalent to a whiteboard.  Another wall had a large desk against it, filled with large pieces of parchment with calculations and a more complex variety of the Arithmancy calculators they used in class.  The final wall had a large number of books with titles such as 'Magical Coefficients' and 'Eigenvalue Spell Extracts'

"Harry Potter," Vector said in a loud voice, "the boy-who-lived.  Defeated Voldemort on All Hallow's Eve before he was a year old.  Came to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when he was 11, and prevented Voldemort from retrieving the Philosopher's Stone.  During his second year, defeated a basilisk and destroyed the enchanted diary of Voldemort.  During his fourth year successfully dueled Voldemort and lived.  During his fifth year, dueled Voldemort again, and defeated him.  During his sixth year, performed spirit wards on the castle that the majority of the staff, including myself, were unable to perform."

Vector saw the surprised expression on Harry's face and said, "Really!  You honestly thought that I hadn't heard of you before this year?"

Harry laughed, remembering the first class of the year, and asked, "Why did you ask me down here, professor?"

Vector smiled and said, "You've got an extraordinary gift when it comes to Arithmancy.  I see it a lot in the muggle-born students, since they have a background of mathematics from the muggle schools.  You know, I didn't believe I'd ever see a student surpass Hermione at Arithmancy.  She spends so much time working on it with an intensity I've rarely seen.  But you are able to do just as well as her, barely even trying."  Harry gasped – it had never occurred to him that he was actually better than Hermione.  Vector asked him, "Is there anywhere you have to be right now?"

Harry responded, "Well, besides lunch, no."

Vector smiled again, and created a small lunch for him on her desk.  She then charmed several series of numbers on the empty board on the wall.  "Well, are you going to stand there?"  Harry smirked and walked over to the board, and began to analyze the numbers.  It appeared the professor wanted to see exactly what he was able to do, and it looked like he would be there for awhile.

----

That was THE LAST math scene.  So calm down…

Please Review!


	20. Attacks, Victories, and Defeats

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

Ron and Ginny frowned as Harry still hadn't shown up for lunch.  "Have you seen Harry?" Ginny finally asked the silent Hermione.

"Well," Hermione answered, "Vector wanted to talk to him after class.  She might have had him work on something.  I don't know."

"Well, it's odd for him…" Ron trailed off, and looked at the high table.  Ginny was about to ask him what exactly was odd, and noticed what Ron was looking at.  Professor Trelawney was in front of the table, which by itself was unusual.  But the Divination professor was talking nervously to the headmaster.  Her usual airy posture had been discarded, and Ron got the impression she was terrified.

Dumbledore appeared to be worried as well, and gathered the professors around.  After a tense minute with Ron, Ginny, and Hermione's eyes watching them, Dumbledore stood up and loudly addressed, "Students, we have an emergency.  Will the 6th and 7th students please follow Professors Hagrid, Snape, Sinistra, Sprout, Hooch, and Trelawney.  Will the 5th and 4th years please follow Professors Fleur and Flitwick, and myself.  And will the 3rd years and below remain here with Professor McGonagall."

The students all got up, confused, but did as Dumbledore asked.  The six professors assigned to the eldest students quickly divided up the lot; Ginny, Ron, and Hermione all were put with different professors, who began quickly leading them up the various tower staircases.

The 5th and 4th year students followed the headmaster, dark arts, and charms professors, but found themselves stopping within the main entryway.  The first through third year students were told to line up against the wall of the Great Hall, facing both the main entrance and the windows along its eastern side.

The 6th and 7th years all gasped as they made their way into the top level of each of the towers.  On the horizon, along the south, were countless numbers of soldiers.  Their intent was obvious, as they were starting to spread along, approaching the castle from several directions.

"Wands out!" cried the professors, and each of the students nervously drew out their wands.  The students and professors silently watched the approach of the army, until Professor Snape finally cast out, "_Cremo__!"  Suddenly, the air was alive with spells, as the students began to hurl curses and hexes at the rapidly approaching legion.  Wave after wave would fall, but each minute, the forces drew closer to the entrance, and it became clear that the students in the towers would not be able to stop them all._

Many of the students gasped as the army grew close enough to the castle to make out their details.  Instead of armored men, the army was made up of skeletal animations and men whose flesh had not completely decomposed.  And every so often, a robed creature would be among the ranks, holding a wand instead of the sword and shield like their brethren.

Finally, the creatures were able to drive to the main gates.  Many of the 4th and 5th years trembled as a giant BOOM sounded on the main oak doors.  "Form up!" Fleur shouted, and the students automatically adopted the large group duel positions they had learned during their defense against the dark arts classes.

Another pound rocked the door; this time the hinges buckled slightly.  Dumbledore shouted, "Wands at ready!"  The students that had not yet pulled their wands out did so, and a third strike at the door finally brought it down.  Almost immediately, the students cast a volley of spells through the door, and a countless number of skeletons fell in the entryway.  They were quickly replaced by others, and the students cast spells in a frenzy to avoid any creature making it through the entry way.  As undead were piling up in the entry way, Dumbledore wasn't casting spell after spell like the rest.  Instead, he would wait for a creature to make it through the students' spells, and incapacitate before it closed the gap between them and the door.  But Dumbledore's main objective was rather clear when the first robed figure entered the hall, with a normal appearance, save a pale face and almost bluish hands.  Dumbledore furiously pointed his hands at the intruder, and the wizard was violently thrown from the building, incapacitated.

The first through third year students were frightened when a few skeletons burst through the windows of the Great Hall, but McGonagall quickly defeated them.  "Students, you need your wands out," she loudly called, "Use whatever curses and hexes you know to defeat them."  The young students trembled, but did as she asked.  Fortunately, only a handful of the undead creatures attempted entry within the windows of the Great Hall, as it was a rather inconvenient way to enter the castle, not being on the ground floor.

Harry and Vector had no way of knowing that while they were working on number theory, the castle had been under attack for the last hour.  Finally, Harry had enough and said, "Professor, it's been nice, but I should really get back to the commons.  I've been down here for…" and looked at his watch.  It was 1:30 in the afternoon already!

Vector grinned and said, "I'll see you on Wednesday in class."  Harry gave the professor a wave, and began walking the corridors back to the Gryffindor tower.  "Where is everybody?" Harry asked himself – the corridor was completely deserted.  He didn't know that everyone was pushing the remnants of the undead army back from the castle.

"Fighting the hopeless battle," came a slow drawl from behind him.

"Malfoy," Harry hissed, and turned around.  It was Draco Malfoy, but he looked somewhat different.  His face was even more pale than usual, and didn't have the faint trace of redness around his cheeks.  His knuckles were completely white as well, as though he were clutching his wand with all this might.

Before Harry could do anything, Malfoy yelled, "_Accio__!" and Harry found his wand flying into Malfoy's hand._

Harry growled, "So you're now Voldemort's pawn."

Malfoy circled Harry, and hissed, "This isn't our first year, Harry.  This isn't where we hurl witty insults at each other.  I've become something beyond that.  And soon you will be, too.  Imagine the coup: Harry Potter, an undead mage, working tirelessly for Voldemort."

Harry growled and took up a defensive posture.  He had never dueled wandlessly before, but he knew that Malfoy was weak from the ceremony and he would at least have a chance.

Malfoy grinned, and pointed his wand at Harry.  "_Caligo__!" Draco shouted.  Harry concentrated, and managed to block the spell, although it took far more energy than if he had a wand._

Before Malfoy got a chance to cast another, Harry quickly focused and cast, "_Expelliarmus__!"  Draco smirked and easily blocked Harry's weak spell.  Harry and Draco circled each other, casting hexes back and forth, but it was clear that Harry was not going to win.  He had to spend far too much effort blocking and casting spells to compete even with a greatly weakened Malfoy._

Malfoy grinned maliciously, focused all his energy, and shouted, "_Stupefy!  Stupefy!  Obstringo!"  Harry somehow managed to block both of the stunning spells, but grunted in frustration as his arms flew behind him and were tied together.  Malfoy laughed throatily, and magically bound Harry's legs as well, and walked right up in front of Harry, who was still standing, struggling against his bonds._

"Harry Potter," Malfoy hissed, although there was a faint trace of his familiar drawl, "Defender of the innocent.  Brought down by a… pawn."  Malfoy gently pushed Harry's chest, and Harry slowly fell over backward, unable to balance himself.

Harry looked up at Malfoy with hate in his eyes.  Malfoy casually said, "Well, let's see if I've still got enough power for… _CRUCIO!"  Harry bit his lip.  Instead of the nerve racking sensation he remembered from Voldemort, there was only a sharp biting pain.  However, Malfoy didn't let up the curse, and Harry sat there, until the sensation grew too much for him and he broke out in a panting scream._

Malfoy was encouraged by this, and redoubled his efforts.  The Boy-Who-Lived curled into a fetal position, gasping between haggard yells of pain.  Within several minutes, he began twitching, and wishing for nothing more than the pain to end.

"WHAT!" came a loud voice, and Harry felt relief as Ginny yelled, "_Nutusus__ Aegis!"  Malfoy roared with rage, as his spell no longer reached Harry.  Before Ginny could do anything else, Malfoy charged at her, his wand forgotten.  Ginny cried with pain as Malfoy's fist connected with her face, and she fell to the floor, her wand clattering beside her._

Malfoy quickly picked both wands back up, and put Ginny's in his pocket along with Harry's.  "Well, Potter," Malfoy hissed, "I may not be able to hurt you anymore, thanks to your girlfriend.  But I can do something even worse.  _Obstringo__! Crucio!"_

Harry watched with horror as Ginny was bound as well, and began trembling with pain.  Every minute she would grow more and more distraught, and every minute Malfoy would grow more and more malicious.  Finally, Ginny broke out in a scream, with Malfoy laughing harshly and Harry crying with frustration.

Harry couldn't help out and was forced to watch as Ginny began to twitch and her eyes began to roll uncontrollably.  He felt a giant surge within building within himself and glared at Draco.  Something burst inside Harry's mind, and Draco suddenly found himself thrown against the stone wall with an unimaginable force.  Harry watched as Malfoy was held lifeless against the wall, and eventually sank down slowly.  Harry somehow knew that every bone in Draco's body was crushed, and Harry had to avert his eyes as Draco's limbs fell over his body limply, almost like a liquid.

Harry looked fearfully over at Ginny, who wasn't moving.  "HELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPP!" Harry cried loudly, and struggled against his bonds.  He tried both removing the bonds and summoning his wand, but he was too weak to do either.  "HELLLLLLPPPP!" Harry cried again.  And again.  All the while, Ginny lay on the stone floor with no trace of movement.

----

Whooeee!  A nice cliffhanger before the final two chapters, eh?  (Note: this is where I run, with hordes of people screaming for my blood because I ended on a cliffhanger, killed off Draco rather unpleasantly, and forced mathematics upon them)

AllAboutMe: Read my lips.  No more math.  I swear.

Penda: Hope the teachers don't catch you.

Garina: Er, I don't know if I want to address that one…

ShaunaJ: Just wait – everything comes to a peak in the next two chapters.

Beefywpac: What is it with Draco?  He calls people nasty names, learns the dark arts, and joins the side of evil – and you all love him?  What happened here?!

Temporary Insanity: THANK YOU!  I don't know what I'd do if everyone else besides me hated math.  Are you an engineering student?  I don't know, you just struck me as the type, as you knew the metric conversions and have a preference for theoretical calculations.

Brianna: Er, what am I supposed to say?  Thanks?  Next time you review my story, try to at least tell me why you think it's horribly written.  Or if you feel the need to, you can even tell me why you think I truly suck.  If you're going to flame, at least try to give a reason for your opinion.

Ariel: Don't worry, I will be writing when I get back after Christmas break.  After the final chapter, I will be putting a section called, "What's next?" up, where I will decide what the heck I'm going to do.

Sherman: Thanks!  You're right – Hermione does seem to be more the type for Arithmancy.

Please Review!  Yes, even you, Brianna!


	21. YOU FOOLISH BOY

I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

After the longest 20 minutes of Harry's life, McGonagall came down the stairs and took in the two students, both bound and lying on the floor, with Malfoy's body lumped against the wall, dead again.

McGonagall gasped and undid the bonds.  She quickly cast Mobilicorpus on Ginny and hurriedly brought her to the infirmary.  Harry struggled behind, still weak from his experience with the cruciatus curse, and managed to arrive 10 minutes after McGonagall had laid the still body of Ginny on a bed in the hospital.

"EVERYONE OUT!" yelled Nurse Pomfrey, standing over Ginny.  McGonagall slowly took Harry and escorted him out the door, to leave the nurse to her ministrations.  Harry dumbly sat down outside the door and waited.  Time seemed to lose all meaning, and Harry waited on the stone floor for several hours, before a somber Nurse Pomfrey opened the door.

"I'm sorry, but she is not responding well as we hoped," Nurse Pomfrey said sadly.  "She will take awhile to recover from this, and there is a decent chance she will end up within St. Mungo's."

Harry opened his mouth in shock, absolutely no thoughts going through his brain.  Pomfrey opened the door, and Harry ran over to Ginny's side.  "There is nothing more I can do," Pomfrey softly said.

Harry sat at her bedside, holding Ginny's hand for the longest time.  The only break came when he slept for a few hours when his body made him, and when Ron and Hermione came in for several hours each day.  Harry drank a few cups of water each day, and ate a sparse sandwich whenever Hermione and Ron forced him to.  Harry would have marveled that he had spent several days there, except he still was avoiding thinking about anything.

After seven days, Dumbledore and Sirius Black entered the infirmary.  "Hello Harry," Sirius Black said softly.  The closest Harry could come to responding was blinking and moving his head slightly to the side.

Dumbledore left silently, and Sirius walked over to sit next to Harry.  "Harry," Sirius said slowly, putting his head on his godson's shoulder, "You need to go to classes.  You've been up here a week."  Sirius saw that his words didn't even seem to enter Harry's mind, and softly said, "I… it, it will be alright Harry."  Harry managed a weak grunt, and barely noticed as his godfather sat by his side silently for a few more hours before leaving.

A few days later, everything began falling into Harry's head, and he couldn't avoid thinking any longer.  He remembered the times they had spent beside each other looking over the lake in silence.  He remembered the way she laughed when he told her all the stuff Ron and he had done over the years.  He remembered the brief note he wrote to the Chudley Cannon's manager.

_Hello,_

_I received your offer of a 5 year contract at 12,000 galleons a year.  I am unable to commit to 5 years as of yet.  I would like to modify the contract to a single year, but will play for 6,000 galleons for that year instead._

_- Harry Potter_

Harry had written the note because he wanted to stick around England for the year after, to wait for Ginny to graduate Hogwarts as well.  He wanted for them to decide their plans together.  But now it looked like that might not happen.

Harry's breath became ragged, unlike the methodical and never changing rhythm of the past week.  _It's his… It's his fault… Harry thought wildly and uncontrollably, __It's__ his fault this has happened.  He… He killed my parents.  And then he does this… He… He… He will pay.  He will pay!_

Harry felt a surge of anger stronger than he had ever felt before and stood up quickly.  Harry cast his mind out, and immediately found the faint blackness from the Obsidian Tome.  All hesitation aside, Harry leapt towards it, and felt its existence through his body.  Without a second glance, he ran at a frantic pace through the castle and over the grounds, following the tome's siren call.

With a fervor he had never felt before, Harry raced through the forest, faster and faster as he grew closer to the tome.  Finally, he came to a clearing, with Voldemort hunched over a giant black book.

 Voldemort turned around and said, "Harry Potter…" but before he could say any more, he was flung several meters through the air and landed hard against a large tree.  Harry felt anger and power coursing through him, and as Voldemort rose, he somehow hit him again through his mind.  Voldemort again flew through the air.  Before he could rise again, Voldemort was attacked another time by the angered teen.  Harry felt a giant release within himself, and hit Voldemort over and over again, watching his body thrown along the ground with each blow.

Soon, Voldemort did not stir, and Harry sensed a black apparition emerge from the wizard's body.  Harry's anger grew even mightier – _HE WILL NOT ESCAPE! - and he somehow created a purple sphere of energy around them.  Voldemort's spirit bounced off the barrier several times, before settling in place before him._

Harry, trembling with fury, conjured a transparent sphere the size of a golf ball.  Harry somehow forced Voldemort's spirit inside, although he did not have a clue how he was doing it, and sat on the verge of closing the sphere.  But before he could do so, his mind screamed _NO!  __He must pay!_

Harry poured every ounce of pain, every fiber of fury and anger within him inside the transparent sphere.  The sphere turned from perfectly transparent to a dark, yet somehow glowing, black.  Harry, reaching a climax of emotions, yelled, "_NUNQUAM COMMUNATATIS!"_

Harry collapsed on the ground, more exhausted than he had ever felt before.

Several hours later, Harry was beginning to stir again, and Dumbledore quietly walked up to him.  "What happened, Harry?" he asked.

Harry gathered himself and said, "Voldemort's defeated.  He's trapped inside that."  Harry then pointed at the small odd sphere lying a short distance away.

Dumbledore noticed its odd color and said, "That is a rather peculiar color for the container."  Harry looked at the sphere, and with a surge of guilt noticed the glowing black color that hinted at what the sphere contained.

Dumbledore looked into Harry's eyes and asked, "Would you care to explain why the sphere is that color?"

Harry didn't answer, and Dumbledore continued, "You didn't fill the sphere with negative emotions, did you?"

Harry couldn't answer, and looked away in guilt.  "YOU FOOLISH BOY!" Dumbledore shouted.  Harry gasped.  He had seen the headmaster angry before, but that anger had never been directed at him.  "You utter fool!" Dumbledore cried, and drew his wand, which Harry had never even seen before.  Dumbledore calmed himself, closed his eyes and said, "Permisi Communatatis," in a very precise and ordered voice.  Dumbledore opened his eyes, but there was no change to the sphere.

Dumbledore sank to the ground, forlorn.  Harry was almost afraid of what the headmaster was going to say.  "Harry," Dumbledore said quietly, "You just had a chance to eliminate the threat of Voldemort forever.  You realize that even though your formidable shield, heightened by the anger you were feeling, will hold for a long time, it will eventually be countered by someone even more powerful than us?  And Voldemort will yet again escape into the world."

"You had the chance to stop it.  Had you filled that container with love, friendship, and loyalty… Year after year, age after age would pass, and they would eventually crumble the walls Tom Riddle had built up within himself.  Had that happened, Tom might have finally had a chance for salvation.  But you filled it with hate and malice, and when Voldemort escapes, he will be far more dangerous than ever.  I have no doubt that he will shortly be driven to madness."

Harry gulped and tried to remove the spell he had erected.  However, he had as little luck as the headmaster, and fell to the ground, sobbing.  Dumbledore looked down at the boy, who had become their savior, yet created what could possibly be their worst threat ever, and quietly left Harry to his thoughts.

Harry tried ineffectively to remove the spell four more times, and cried helplessly at what he had done.  Several hours later, as the sun began to set, Hermione found him in the clearing.

"Harry, what is the matter?" Hermione asked.

Harry gulped and answered almost incoherently, "Voldemort.  I… defeated him… and trapped his spirit… but… but I filled it with anger… and when… when Voldemort is finally released… he'll be even more dangerous than before…"  Harry broke down, and Hermione walked close to him and did the thing he least expected.

Hermione slapped him.  Hard.  "You wretch," Hermione hissed, "Right now, Ginny is up in the infirmary and needs you, and what are you doing?  You're down here in the forest, moping about how you didn't defeat Voldemort well enough!"

Harry gulped and slowly realized that his friend was right.  He raced back up into the castle, and found Ron sitting again over Ginny's still body.

Ron saw him and managed a weak smile.  "Madame Pomfrey said she's getting better," Ron said.  Harry nodded jerkily to Ron, and the two sat by Ginny's side.

----

I'm going to cover the reviews here (instead of the last chapter)

AllAboutMe: Accckkkkkk! Can't…. acchkkk… breathe…

Kim: Well, he was dead.  Kind of.  Voldemort killed him, then reanimated him to do his bidding.

Erkrk: Sorry about the cliffhangers.  But I think I've limited them pretty well.  I know of some authors who try to put one at the end of every chapter.  I've only had about 3 in my trilogy.

Beefywpac: Thanks!

Temporary Insanity: yeah yeah, I put in a cliffhanger.  Don't worry, AllAboutMe has already strangled me for killing off Draco.

Alison: I would imagine the magical equivalent of a whiteboard to basically be a regular white board, except with charms to make it easy to put writing on.  I know, it's not a very imaginative answer – that's why I didn't bother describing it in detail.  That is a good point about Ron, Hermione, and Ginny not doing much.  If/When I rewrite, I'll have to take that into consideration.  About what's next for writing, look at the 'What's next' section of next chapter.

Seifer: Thanks!  Hehe, and Ginny didn't die.

ShaunaJ: Thanks!

Garina: Sorry.  There's no need to fly over here.  First, Ginny lived.  Second, AllAboutMe must have been closer, because she's already got to me.  Yeah, AllAboutMe, don't you need to apologize Garina?  She might have wanted a piece of me, too!

Review if you like


	22. The Sphere of Madness

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Please don't sue.

Several days later, Ginny finally managed to open her eyes, and found Harry, Ron, and Hermione looking hopefully at her.

"Ginny," Harry whispered tenderly.

"Ginny," Hermione said more practically, "Do you know who we are?"

Ginny gave a small groan and croaked, "No."  Harry, Hermione, and Ron's head fell in disappointment.  Harry looked back up at her, and noticed she had a weak smile.

"Ginny," Harry said, half exasperated, half overjoyed.

Ginny gave a weak laugh which ended up making her cough, and said, "Ok, maybe that wasn't the funniest joke to play there."

However, her visitors overlooked it, and all burst into talking at once.

"I'm so glad you're back, Ginny," Hermione said.

"I missed you, Ginny," Harry softly croaked.

"Don't ever do that to us again!" Ron hissed, although everyone could hear the immense gladness in his voice.

However, before anyone could say anything else, Madame Pomfrey returned and insisted that they all leave and let Ginny recover.  The three made their way back to the Gryffindor commons, all in considerably lighter moods than before.  Harry, however, insisted on going up to this room instead of talking with Ron and Hermione in the commons.

He thought about the past two weeks, and what had happened.  He realized what his life was like, when Ginny wasn't there with him.  He remembered the year before, and how alone he felt when she left for Durmstrang for several months.  Finally reaching a decision, Harry grabbed his Gringotts Key, his money pouch, and his Floo Powder and left for Diagon Alley.

When Ginny awoke two days later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione noted she looked much better.  The color of her skin was back completely, and she was able to smile and laugh like normal.  After a few hours of the four talking, Harry asked, "Ron, Hermione, would it be alright if I talked alone with Ginny for a few moments?"

Ron and Hermione both nodded and left the room.  Ginny looked at Harry and noticed the unusual face he was wearing.  Harry slowly reached into his robes and pulled out a small book, which he handed slowly to her.

"What is this?" Ginny asked, confused.

Harry smiled and handed her a quill and told her to write something.  Ginny took the quill with a trembling hand and wrote, "My name is Ginny Weasley."

The book absorbed the ink, and Ginny let a yelp of alarm, remembering Tom Riddle's diary.  However, the response quickly came back, "I am Harry Potter."

Ginny looked at the diary with a small look of puzzlement.  "How are you Harry Potter, when Harry's standing right next to me?" she quickly wrote.

"Well," the book wrote back, "more accurately, I'm a part of Harry Potter.  Harry put a bit of himself into the diary and made me."

Ginny took a moment, and wrote back, "Harry filled you up?  When?"

The diary quickly and almost eagerly responded, "Just a few hours ago.  We have a very important question to ask you."

Ginny looked over at Harry, who had a smile on his face.  Ginny slowly turned back to the diary and wrote, "Well, what's your question?"

The diary wrote four words which made Ginny's heart leap, "Will you marry me?"  Ginny looked over at Harry, who was now on one knee, holding a ring in his hand.

Ginny trembled, and managed to croak, "Yes!"

In that moment, Harry knew that no matter what happened or where he went, he knew who he would be with, and knew he would be happy.

***** Epilogue *****

White robed ministry officials swooped down into the Forbidden Forest shortly after Hermione and Harry had left.  One of them, with robes of white and gold, cautiously picked up the black orb, and the group silently left.

The Department of Secrets resolved to keep the sphere from any dark wizards wishing to attempt to open it, and hid the object in a deep chamber under constant guard with the most experienced aurors the ministry had.

Yet despite everything, Voldemort remained optimistic in his prison, insanity coursing through him.  One day, the Sphere of Madness would be opened.  One day, he knew, he would be free again.  It wouldn't be today.  It wouldn't be tomorrow.  It probably wouldn't be within the next hundred years, or even a thousand.  But Voldemort was immortal, and he knew that time was on his side…

----

The END!  Whooo!  Talk about furious writing.  A +100k word trilogy done in little over a month.  Wow, it certainly looks like I have no life…

I'd like to thank all the reviewers out there, for all three of the stories.  You've really directed the flow of this story – several sections were added by request and many others were tweaked.  But not only that, you've given me some good pointers for the next stories I write.  THANK YOU!

----

What's Next?

First off, although I will be offline for 3 weeks, I can almost guarantee I will be writing over the holiday (although I obviously can't post anything).  I've got something new planned – something I don't think has ever been done on ff.net, and almost certainly never for Harry Potter: A choose-your-own-adventure.  I've got most of the main plot points done, and most of the early choices.  I'm still hammering out some things, and trying to get more variety among the branches.  This promises to be a large amount of text, possibly even around 200-500k words.  I don't know whether it will get done or not, but there is one positive note if I fail – I'll still have a linear story done (I'll write the obvious/sensible branches first).  So I can almost guarantee you, there WILL be another story.

Parodies: Unfortunately, I probably will not be able to write any parodies during the break.  How I write a parody is I browse through ff.net, looking for overused or crazy ideas (songfics, lily/james, Harry/Hermione, romance, etc).  Since I won't be able to scour the site for ideas, I probably won't write a parody.

Sequel: I've been toying with the idea of a sequel for this trilogy.  It would probably take place 10 years from Harry's graduation, and would center around Voldemort escaping from his sphere.  However, I am inclined not to write this story.  I like the ending I've got in the end of the trilogy.  I don't know if I want Harry to end up completely destroying Voldemort.  And I certainly don't want to re-trap him in the sphere, which I think would be pretty lame.  So unless I can come up with a good end for a sequel, it probably won't get written.  And if it does, it won't be for a bit.  So don't hold your breath.

Anyway, I will hopefully see you all in roughly 3 weeks!


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